Crystal growth and mechanical hardness of In₂Se_2.7Sb_0.3 single crystal

The III-VI compound semiconductors is important for the fabrication of ionizing radiation detectors, solid-state electrodes, and photosensitive heterostructures, solar cell and ionic batteries. In this paper, In₂Se_2.7 Sb_0.3 single crystals were grown by the Bridgman method with temperature gradient of 60 °C/cm and the growth velocity 0.5cm/hr. The as-grown crystals were examined under the optical microscope for surface study, a various growth features observed on top free surface of the single crystal which is predominant of layers growth mechanism. The lattice parameters of as-grown crystal was determined by the XRD analysis. A Vickers' projection microscope were used for the study of microhardness on the as-cleaved, cold-worked and annealed samples of the crystals, the results were discussed, and reported in detail