Crystals semiconducting

In contrast to metals, most studies have concentrated on insulators and semiconductors where the optical structure readily lends itself to a straightforward interpretation. Within certain approximations, the imaginary part of the dielectric fiinction for semiconducting or insulating crystals is given by... 

The most connnonly used detector in EPR is a semiconducting silicon crystal in contact with a tungsten wire, which acts as an MW rectifier. At microwatt powers, crystal detectors are typically non-linear and render a... 

Lead Telluride. Lead teUuride [1314-91 -6] PbTe, forms white cubic crystals, mol wt 334.79, sp gr 8.16, and has a hardness of 3 on the Mohs scale. It is very slightly soluble in water, melts at 917°C, and is prepared by melting lead and tellurium together. Lead teUuride has semiconductive and photoconductive properties. It is used in pyrometry, in heat-sensing instmments such as bolometers and infrared spectroscopes (see Infrared technology AND RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY), and in thermoelectric elements to convert heat directly to electricity (33,34,83). Lead teUuride is also used in catalysts for oxygen reduction in fuel ceUs (qv) (84), as cathodes in primary batteries with lithium anodes (85), in electrical contacts for vacuum switches (86), in lead-ion selective electrodes (87), in tunable lasers (qv) (88), and in thermistors (89). 

Semiconducting Properties. Sihcon carbide is a semiconductor it has a conductivity between that of metals and insulators or dielectrics (4,13,46,47). Because of the thermal stabiUty of its electronic stmcture, sihcon carbide has been studied for uses at high (>500° C) temperature. The Hall mobihty in sihcon carbide is a function of polytype (48,49), temperature (41,42,45—50), impurity, and concentration (49). In n-ty e crystals, activation energy for ioniza tion of nitrogen impurity varies with polytype (50,51). 

Dislocations are involved in various important aspects of materials apart from mechanical behaviour, such as semiconducting behaviour and crystal growth. I turn next to a brief examination of crystal growth. 

The electronic properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes have been studied theoretically using different methods[4-12. It is found that if n — wr is a multiple of 3, the nanotube will be metallic otherwise, it wiU exhibit a semiconducting behavior. Calculations on a 2D array of identical armchair nanotubes with parallel tube axes within the local density approximation framework indicate that a crystal with a hexagonal packing of the tubes is most stable, and that intertubule interactions render the system semiconducting with a zero energy gap[35]. 

Varying the semiconducting properties of the catalyst crystal affects the rate of ammonium perchlorate decomposition. 

Time-resolved microwave conductivity measurements with electrodes in electrochemical cells can conveniently be made with pulsed lasers (e.g., an Nd-YAG laser) using either normal or frequency-doubled radiation. Instead of a lock-in amplifier, a transient recorder is used to detect the pulse-induced microwave reflection. While transient microwave experiments with semiconducting crystals or powders have been performed... 

Trigonal, metallic selenium has been investigated as photoelectrode for solar energy conversion, due to its semiconducting properties. The photoelectrochemistry of the element has been studied in some detail by Gissler [35], A photodecomposition reaction of Se into hydrogen selenide was observed in acidic solutions. Only redox couples with a relatively anodic standard potential could prevent dissolution of Se crystal. 

Some insulating oxides become semiconducting by doping. This can be achieved either by inserting certain heteroatoms into the crystal lattice of the oxide, or more simply by its partial sub-stoichiometric reduction or oxidation, accompanied with a corresponding removal or addition of some oxygen anions from/into the crystal lattice. (Many metal oxides are, naturally, produced in these mixed-valence forms by common preparative techniques.) For instance, an oxide with partly reduced metal cations behaves as a n-doped semiconductor a typical example is Ti02. 

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