Magnetic and Electronic Properties of RENiBi (RE = Pr, Sm, Gd-Tm, Lu) Compounds

Resistivity and magnetic measurements were used to examine the ternary rare earth compounds RENiBi (RE = Pr, Sm, Gd-Tm, Lu). These compounds order antiferromagnetically with T-N below 16 K (RE = Pr, Sm, Gd-Tm) or are paramagnetic (LuNiBi). For some of these compounds a metal-insulator transition was found. The metal-insulator transition temperature depends strongly on the preparation conditions. Both the magnetic ground states and the resistance behavior are in good agreement with electronic band structure calculations.