Growth and electrical properties of mercury indium telluride single crystals

A novel photoelectronic single crystal, mercury indium telluride (MIT), has been successfully grown by using vertical Bridgman method (VB). The crystallinity, thermal and electrical properties of the MIT crystal were investigated. The results of X-ray rocking curve show that the as-grown MIT crystal has good crystal quality with the FWHM on (3 1 1) face of about 173 in. DSC measurement reveals that the Hg element is easy to solely evaporate from the compound when the temperature is higher than 387.9 °C in the open system. Hall measurements at room temperature show that the resistivity, carrier density and mobility of the MIT crystal were 4.79 × 10² Ω cm, 2.83 × 10¹³ cm⁻³ and 4.60 × 10² cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹, respectively. The reduction of carrier mobility and the increase of the resistivity are related to the adding of In₂Te₃ into HgTe, which changes the energy band structure of the crystal.