Magnetic and electrical properties of R7Rh3 (R=Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er and Y)

The electric resistivity and magnetic susceptibility have been measured for hexagonal intermetallic compounds R 7 Rh 3 (R=Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er and Y). At low temperature, these compounds except Y 7 Rh 3 have antiferromagnetic order. In room temperature region, the electric resistivity increases with decreasing temperature in all the compounds and some of these compounds show a broad maximum at paramagnetic region. The pronounced increase of electric resistivity due to superzone gap formation at the Fermi level has been observed at the Neel temperature. These properties could be explained by the semimetallic band scheme.