The Kirkendall and Frenkel effects in Hgsub(1-x)Cdsub(x)Te

HgTe crystals are grown from a stoichiometric melt on CdTe substrates and annealed at 660 0C. The compositional profile and structure in the transitional region from CdTe to HgTe are studied. When the melt is maintained for short times t0 before contact with the substrate, pores are formed in HgTe crystals near the interface. It is observed that after annealing the pores move into the crystal while increasing in size. These phenomena are interpreted as the Kirkendall and Frenkel effects, respectively. At large t0 no pores are detected in the crystals. The displacement of the constant composition plane with respect to Matano's interface is found to be proportional to the square root of annealing time. (author)