Doping in mercuric iodide crystals and its influence on electronic properties and material structure

Doping of mercuric iodide single crystals with SbI3 was studied. Three major aspects of the influence of doping were investigated: the α to β solid phase transition, the crystal structure and the semiconducting properties. A controlled doping method and a new growth technique from the melt were developed. A quantitative correlation between the antimony concentration and the charge carrier transport properties as well as the nuclear detector characteristics of HgI2 were established for the first time. In the present work the influence of various impurities (Sb, Cu, Ag, Bi) on the solid state phase transformation of mercuric iodide has been investigated. In the second part of the work a new growth method for mercuric iodide single crystals containing a controlled amount of SbI3, has been developed. In the last part of this work the influence of the presence of impurities in the crystal on the charge carrier transport properties has been investigated. (author)