Ternary Alloys Based on IV-VI and IV-VI2 Semiconductors

Book excerpt: IV-VI and IV-VI2 semiconductors are among the most interesting materials in semiconductor physics. The electrical properties of these semiconductors can also be tuned by adding impurity atoms. These semiconductors either have already found use or are promising materials for infrared sensors and sources, thermoelectric elements, solar cells, memory elements, etc. The basic characteristics of these compounds, namely, narrow bandgap, high permittivity, relatively high radiation resistance, high mobility of charge carriers, and high bond ionicity, are unique among semiconductor substances. Because of their wide application in various devices, the search for new semiconductor materials and the improvement of existing materials is an important field of study. Doping with impurities is a common method of modifying and diversifying the properties of physical and chemical semiconductors. This book covers all known information about phase relations in ternary systems based on IV-VI and IV-VI2 semiconductors, providing the first systematic account of phase equilibria in ternary systems and making research originally published in Russia accessible to the wider scientific community. This book will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students studying materials science, solid state chemistry, and engineering. It will also be relevant for researchers at industrial and national laboratories, in addition to phase diagram researchers, inorganic chemists, and solid-state physicists. FEATURES Provides up-to-date experimental and theoretical information Allows readers to synthesize semiconducting materials with predetermined properties Delivers a critical evaluation of many industrially important systems presented in the form of two-dimensional sections for the condensed phases