The tunable negative thermal expansion covering a wide temperature range around room temperature in Sn, Mn co-substituted Mn3ZnN

Based on anti-perovskite Mn3ZnN, the negative thermal expansion (NTE) temperature can be effectively broadened via co-substituting Sn, Mn. Using optimized components, the room-temperature NTE effect covering a wide temperature range can be realized. Both the competing ferromagnetic order from Mn and local lattice disorder from Sn should be the reason for the physical origination of the broadening of the NTE temperature. By compositing with epoxy, the low thermal expansion could be achieved around room temperature, which exhibits great potential in the field of electronic packaging.