The Effect of Gadolinium Doping on the Physical Properties of Lead Telluride

Abstract

The behaviour of Gd impurity in Bridgeman grown lead telluride crystals and the effect of Gd on the electrical properties and magnetic susceptibility of Gd doped crystals are studied. Gd is shown to behave like a donor impurity, although not in the usual sense of the word, and can cause PbTe crystals to become paramagnetic. Electronic conduction of Gd doped crystals is explained as resulting from a change in the relation between point defect concentration in the metal subsystem and that in the Te subsystem in favour of the latter. The Gd distribution along ingots can be accounted for only by assuming that the Gd segregation coefficient increases as the melt becomes Gd depleted.

Growth and characterization of GdxHg1−xSe crystals

“…On the basis of experimental data, the model for Gd ions in the SnTe crystalline host was suggested. According to this model, which was confirmed by the photoemission results [13,14], the Gd 4f 7 localized states are positioned much lower ($0.2 eV) from the top of the valence band and are strongly localized. Such localization causes the existence of Gd in two charge states of 3+ and 2+ and is determined by the energy of the Fermi level.…”

“…Magnetic susceptibility investigations of PbTe:Gd and Pb 1Àx Sn x Te:Gd crystals proved them to be paramagnetic, owing to the Gd contribution [15]. Also, Gd doping leads to the inversion of conductivity type of PbTe crystals, i.e.…”

High temperature transformation in the defects and impurities system of PbTe:Eu crystals

“…The behavior of REE impurities in IV-VI semiconductors has been widely researched too [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Their effect on electrical [9,10], optical [11], magnetic [10,12], resonance [12,13] properties, as well as the interaction of impurities with native defects of a crystal matrix during the growth of doped crystals is investigated [14,15].…”

Pecularities of EPR spectra of the Gd impurity in the Sn-Rich Pb1−x Sn x Te(Gd) solid solutions

“…In the present work, we study the behavior of the Gd impurity ions in the crystals of Pbl_xSnxTe solid solution, asa follow-up of the systematic investigations of the influence of this dopant on the physical properties of the IV-VI semiconductors [4][5][6][7][8]. Behavior of the Gd impurity in the investigated materials is nontrivial in many aspects, e.g., it enables one to control efficiently the structural, optical, and electrophysical parameters of lead and tin tellurides.…”

“…Thus, doping with Gd leads to a decrease in the hole concentration in the Pb~_xSn~Te in the whole range of composition x from 0 up to 1. It may also cause a crystal conductivity inversion from the hole (p) type to the electron (n) type at certain values of the Gd impurity concentration NGd and matrix composition x [3][4][5][6].…”