Non-stoichiometry and properties of SnTe⟨Cd⟩ semiconducting phase of variable composition

It was established that the dependences of microhardness, hole concentration, electrical conductivity, and the Seebeck coefficient on composition in the Sn0.984Te-Cd and Sn0.984Te-CdTe solid solutions based on non-stoichiometric tin telluride exhibit non-monotonic behavior. The effects connected with the interaction between intrinsic and impurity defects and with critical phenomena accompanying a transition to the impurity continuum were isolated. The results obtained in this work represent another evidence for our proposition about the universal character of critical phenomena accompanying the transition from an impurity discontinuum to an impurity continuum in solid solutions. (c) 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.