Resonance of mixing energy and energy of elastic deformations during spinodal decomposition and the composition modulation effect in ZnхCd1-ХTe solid solutions

Abstract

The Cahn-Hilliard equation is adapted to consider the spinodal decomposition of A2B6 semiconductor solid solutions. This approach is used to analyze the process of spinodal decomposition of ZnхCd1-хTe solid solution, which is accompanied by the appearance of the composition modulation effect during its low-temperature synthesis. Numerical simulations of the spinodal decomposition of the ZnхCd1-хTe solid solution are performed. It is shown that micro-variations of the material composition are related by the resonance phenomenon between the excess mixing energy and the energy of elastic strains arising in the inclusions of the new phase, which are coherently conjugated with the initial crystal lattice. It is revealed that such resonance phenomena are most intense when the conditions for the material synthesis are located in close proximity to the spinodal curves on the phase state diagram of the system.