RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ELECTRICAL-PROPERTIES AND CRYSTAL-STRUCTURE OF (LA1-XNDX)CRO3 (0-LESS-THAN-OR-EQUAL-TO-X-LESS-THAN-OR-EQUAL-TO-1.0)

Perovskite-type (La1-xNdx)CrO3 has the orthorhombic GdFeO3- type structure with the space group Pnma. The electrical resistivity of (La1-xNdx)CrO3 (0 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 1.0) was measured in the temperature range 300 to 1000 K. Although the cell volume decreases linearly with increasing x, significant compositional dependence on electrical resistivity is not found. (La1-xNdx)CrO3 is a p-type semiconductor with an activation energy of ca. 0.26 to ca. 0.28 eV. Rietveld analysis and XPS measurements indicate that each CrO6 octahedron has little distortion and that the decrease in the angles for Cr-O(1)-Cr or Cr-O(2)-Cr is caused by the linear decrease in the cell volume. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.