Grain Boundary Influence on the Electrical Properties of Tellurium Microstructure Ingots and Nanocluster Crystals

Abstract

The high sensitivity of the low temperature electrical properties of p-type pure tellurium (Te) to impurities, structural boundaries, point defects and dislocations allows to investigate the structural imperfection profiles in crystals grown under different conditions. Our interest was focused on studying the influence of grain boundaries on the electrical properties of the samples that were remelted and directionally solidified in space (µg) without a seed (W-µg), in comparison with the sample grown under the normal earth conditions (1g0) and a nanocluster sample obtained by filling with melted Te of dielectric opal matrix voids (Opal<Te> sample). The W-µg ingot of Te was prepared in the "Crystallizator" furnace under microgravity conditions aboard the "Mir" space station [1]. The concentration variation of electrically active defects and neutral defects along the samples were studied by galvanomagnetic methods (Hall effect and electrical resistivity) in a wide temperature range from 0.4 to 300 K. In these measurements, the following effects caused by the micro- and nano- crystalline structure were found: low hole mobility, high concentration of neutral defects, and anomalous positive magnetoresistance in low magnetic fields at low temperatures. Besides, the specific resistivity of the space sample was found to oscillate (up to 20%) along the length which can be correlated with the presence of a few contact points of the melt with the ampoule wall. This ingot was formed as a result of rapid homogeneous spontaneous solidification, accompanied by forming a micro-block structure. The appearance of the anomalous positive magnetoresistance was observed in the micro-block W- sample and the nanocluster Opal<Te> sample. It is a consequence of intensive hole scattering at the grain boundaries which leads to an increase of the intervalley transition probability and to a change of the spin sign of holes in a low symmetry Te crystal. According to the weak localization theory [2], the spin variation during the scattering results in a positive magnetoresistance of the sample in low magnetic fields, in contrast to bulk Te crystals.