Optical and electrical properties of ternary chalcogenides

Abstract Single crystals of various ternary chalcogenides of the formula AB2X4 (where A = Zn, Cd, Hg; B = In, Ga; X = S, Se) have been grown from the vapour phase by means of a chemical transport reaction. These compounds are n-type photoconductors with the fundamental absorption edge in the visible or near-infrared part of the spectrum. Photoelectric properties of these materials, such as: spectral dependence of the photocurrent, optical absorption, band gap, light and dark resistance, gain, sensitivity, carrier life time, Hall mobility and photoelectric decay time are reported.