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arXiv · 1911.05387

Two-valence band electron and heat transport in monocrystalline PbTe-CdTe solid solutions with high Cd content

M. Szot·P. Pfeffer·K. Dybko·A. Szczerbakow·L. Kowalczyk·P. Dziawa·R. Minikayev·T. Zayarnyuk·K. Piotrowski·M. U. Gutowska·A. Szewczyk·T. Story·W. Zawadzki
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Abstract

High quality p-type PbTe-CdTe monocrystalline alloys containing up to 10 at.$\%$ of Cd are obtained by self-selecting vapor transport method. Mid infrared photoluminescence experiments are performed to follow the variation of the fundamental energy gap as a function of Cd content. The Hall mobility, thermoelectric power, thermal conductivity and thermoelectric figure of merit parameter $ZT$ are investigated experimentally and theoretically paying particular attention to the two-valence band structure of the material. It is shown that the heavy-hole band near the $Σ$ point of the Brillouin zone plays an important role and is responsible for the Pb$_{1-x}$Cd$_x$Te hole transport at higher Cd-content. Our data and their description can serve as the standard for Pb$_{1-x}$Cd$_x$Te single crystals with $x$ up to 0.1. It is shown, that monocrystalline Pb$_{1-x}$Cd$_x$Te samples with relatively low Cd content of about 1 at.\% and hole concentration of the order of 10$^{20}$ cm$^{-3}$ may exhibit $ZT \approx$ 1.4 at 600 K.

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M. Szot, P. Pfeffer, K. Dybko, A. Szczerbakow, L. Kowalczyk, P. Dziawa, R. Minikayev, T. Zayarnyuk, K. Piotrowski, M. U. Gutowska, A. Szewczyk, T. Story, W. Zawadzki. 2019-11-13. Two-valence band electron and heat transport in monocrystalline PbTe-CdTe solid solutions with high Cd content. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevmaterials.4.044605

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