Mooij Law Violation from Nanoscale Disorder

Nanoscale inhomogeneity can profoundly impact properties of two-dimensional van der Waals materials. Here, we reveal how sulfur substitution on the selenium atomic sites in Fe1-ySe1-xSx (0 <= x <= 1, y <= 0.1) causes Fe-Ch (Ch = Se, S) bond length differences and strong disorder for 0.4 <= x <= 0.8. There, the superconducting transition temperature Tc is suppressed and disorder-related scattering is enhanced. The high-temperature metallic resistivity in the presence of strong disorder exceeds the Mott limit and provides an example of the violation of Matthiessen's rule and the Mooij law, a dominant effect when adding moderate disorder past the Drude/Matthiessen's regime in all materials. The scattering mechanism responsible for the resistivity above the Mott limit is unrelated to phonons and arises for strong Se/S atom disorder in the tetrahedral surrounding of Fe. Our findings shed light on the intricate connection between the nanostructural details and the unconventional scattering mechanism, which is possibly related to charge-nematic or magnetic spin fluctuations.

Automated summary

The nanoscale inhomogeneity has a profound impact on the properties of two-dimensional van der Waals materials. This study reveals that the substitution of sulfur on the selenium atomic sites in Fe1-ySe1-xSx causes differences in bond length and strong disorder, suppressing the superconducting transition temperature and enhancing disorder-related scattering. Furthermore, the research finds that the high-temperature metallic resistivity in the presence of strong disorder exceeds the Mott limit, indicating a violation of Matthiessen's rule and the Mooij law.