Semiconducting properties of several III B-V B-VI B ternary materials and their metallurgical aspects

The congruently melting compounds, Ga ₆Sb ₅Te and In ₆Sb ₅Te, and the peritectic compound, In ₇SbTe ₆ were found as a result of a study of the GaSb (or InSb)-GaTe (or InTe) pseudobinary phase diagrams. Zone melting was used to prepare polycrystalline samples of these compounds for electrical measurements. Here electrical conductivity, Hall effect, optical absorption, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity data are reported. Possibility of the thermoelectric device, based on these compounds, is discussed. The energy gap of the forbidden band of Ga ₆Sb ₅Te ( E_g⁰=0·80 eV, E_g³⁰⁰=0·65 eV) is determined. Other related materials, which exist as intermediate phases of the pseudobinary systems InAs-InTe and In ₂Te ₃-Sb ₂Te ₃ (or Bi ₂Te ₃), are reported.