Observation of phase separation in Hg1−xCdxTe solid solutions by low incident angle x-ray diffraction

Mechanical and Thermal Properties

“…According to Schmit [151] and Gambino et al [152], and as shown in Figure 8.16b, the system presents a miscibility gap in the solid state with a critical point at x = 0.55 and a temperature of 172 • C. This has been confirmed by other studies [153][154][155]. The X-ray data of Wiedermeier and Chen [156] showed that the phase separation occurs primarily in a thin surface layer at 140 • C and is reversible after annealing at 530 the X-ray photoemission study of Sporken et al [157], and a high pressure of Hg above the synthesis temperatures of the Hg 1−x Cd x Te alloys was observed to cause the appearance of Te precipitates in the crystal [158,159]. Several reports [160][161][162] confirm that the reaction between Cd and HgTe in the solid state proceeds in the following direction:…”

Solid-solution hardening of bulk crystals

“…x value from [20] lattices, which all imply ordering processes in the cation sublattice. For II-VI cation solid solutions, clustering tendencies and phase separations were theoretically predicted and, in some cases, experimentally investigated [10,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Contrary to this, ordered phases [27,28] were described and the occurrence of ferroelectricity in Cd 1−x Zn x Te (0.04 ≤ x ≤ 0.45) [29] should be explained by an (at least short-range) ordering of the Zn atoms in the Cd sublattice.…”