Low Temperature Heat Capacities of Transition Metal Borides

Abstract Low temperature heat capacities from 1.5 to 15 K have been measured for a number of transition metal borides with the compositions Me2B, MeB and MeB2 , and their solid solutions. The measurements show that the borides are characterized by a narrow d-band with a relatively large density of electron states. The variation of γ with position of the transition metal in the Periodic Table for the borides is considerably different from that of the transition metals and solid solutions. This result suggests considerable differences in the shapes of the respective band struc­tures. There is evidence for an electron transfer from the boron atoms to the d-bands of the transition metal.