Electrical properties of lithium hydride

Ionic conductivity of LiH crystal has been measured. The energy for Schottky vacancy pair formation (2.3+-0.3 eV) and energies of a positive ion vacancy for migration and for the association with a divalent cation impurity (0.54 eV and 0.50 eV, respectively) were obtained from the ionic conductivity curve. The energy for the rotation of a vacancy around divalent cation was 0.38+-0.02 eV from the measurements of ionic thermocurrent (ITC). Photoconductivity peaks at 5.05 eV and 6.7 eV are ascribed to the exciton and to the photoemission state, respectively. It is suggested that the defect properties of LiH are similar to those of LiCl and LiF and that the electronic properties are close to those of LiI. (auth.)