ABSTRACT
In the field of condensed matter physics and materials science, thin-film technologies are often employed to study the physical properties of materials and explore device applications. Over several decades, thin films of metal borides have been extensively studied for the applications to wear- and corrosion-resistant or thermionic coating on tools, engineering components, etc. [1], due to their high melting points, exceptional hardness, extraordinary chemical stability, and high thermal and electric conductivity. Most studies on the thin films of rare-earth borides are focused on the hexaboride system because rare-earth hexaborides exhibit a variety of complex ordering phenomena and unique physical properties. In this chapter, we review the literature on rare-earth hexaboride thin films by giving a brief introduction to their synthesis and summarizing the main experimental results. We particularly focus the discussion on the studies of SmB6 thin films, which recently gained great interest as a promising platform to realize exotic quantum states based on the topologically nontrivial nature of SmB6.
