Zinc telluride (ZnTe) is an intrinsic semiconductor material with band gap of 2.23-2.25 eV. It is usually a p-type semiconductor. Its crystal structure is cubic, of sphalerite. Its lattice constant is 0.61034 nm, allowing it to be grown with or on aluminium antimonide, gallium antimonide, indium arsenide, and lead selenide. [1] Its CAS number is 1315-11-3[2]. Its melting point is 1238.5 °C. It has the appearance of grey or brownish-red powder, or ruby-red crystals when refined by sublimation. General Name, Symbol, Number zinc, Zn, 30 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 12, 4, d Appearance bluish pale gray Atomic mass 65. ... General Name, Symbol, Number tellurium, Te, 52 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 16, 5, p Appearance silvery lustrous gray Atomic mass 127. ... An intrinsic semiconductor is a material which has the conductivity of a semiconductor without the introduction of a deliberate dopant species. ... Semiconductor materials are insulators at absolute zero temperature that conduct electricity in a limited way at room temperature (see also Semiconductor). ... In solid state physics and related applied fields, the band gap is the energy difference between the top of the valence band and the bottom of the conduction band in insulators and semiconductors. ... An electronvolt (symbol: eV) is the amount of kinetic energy gained by a single unbound electron when it passes through an electrostatic potential difference of one volt, in vacuum. ... A P-type semiconductor is obtained by carrying out a process of doping, that is adding a certain type of atoms to the semiconductor in order to increase the number of free (in this case positive) charges. ... Rose des Sables (Sand Rose), formed of gypsum crystals In mineralogy and crystallography, a crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms in a crystal. ... Sphalerite sample Another sphalerite sample Sphalerite (ZnS) is a mineral that is the chief ore of zinc. ... Lattice constant, or a, defines the distance between atoms in crystal lattice. ... Indium arsenide, InAs, or indium monoarsenide, is a semiconductor material, a semiconductor composed of indium and arsenic. ... Lead selenide (PbSe), or lead(II) selenide, a selenide of lead, is a semiconductor material. ... CAS registry numbers are unique numerical identifiers for chemical compounds, polymers, biological sequences and alloys. ...

Zinc telluride can be also prepared as hexagonal crystals. In crystallography, the hexagonal crystal system is one of the 7 lattice point groups. ...

Applications

Zinc telluride can be used as an optical material in infrared optics. However, if the beam irradiance limits are exceeded, it can burn in presence of oxygen. Image of a small dog taken in mid-infrared (thermal) light (false color) Infrared (IR) radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength longer than that of visible light, but shorter than that of microwave radiation. ...

Zinc telluride is important for development of various semiconductor devices, including blue LEDs, laser diodes, solar cells, microwave parts, etc. Semiconductor devices are electronic components that exploit the electronic properties of semiconductor materials, principally silicon, germanium, and gallium arsenide. ... Various light-emitting diodes (5 mm reds, 3 mm greens and yellows) A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits incoherent monochromatic light when electrically biased in the forward direction. ... A packaged laser diode with penny for scale. ... A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, sometimes called sun battery is a semiconductor device consisting of a large-area p-n junction diode, which in the presence of sunlight is capable of generating usable electrical energy. ...

Solar cells may be made of a thin layer of cadmium telluride grown on thicker layer of cadmium sulfide, which is deposited on a background layer of zinc telluride, forming a PIN structure, where ZnTe is the P-type semiconductor, CdS is the I-type semiconductor, and CdTe is the N-type semiconductor. A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, sometimes called sun battery is a semiconductor device consisting of a large-area p-n junction diode, which in the presence of sunlight is capable of generating usable electrical energy. ... Cadmium telluride (CdTe) is a crystalline compound formed from cadmium and tellurium with a zinc blende (cubic) crystal structure (space group F43m). ... Cadmium sulfide (UK English sulphide), the mineral greenockite, is an hexagonal, yellowish crystal with specific gravity of 4. ... A P-type semiconductor is obtained by carrying out a process of doping, that is adding a certain type of atoms to the semiconductor in order to increase the number of free (in this case positive) charges. ... An N-type semiconductor is obtained by carrying out a process of doping, that is adding a certain type of atoms to the semiconductor in order to increase the number of free (in this case negative) charge carriers. ...

Zinc telluride crystals can be used for generation of terahertz radiation. When a crystal is subjected to a high-intensity light pulse of sub-picosecond duration, it emits a pulse of terahertz radiation. (Lithium niobate can be used in a similar way.) Conversely, subjecting a zinc telluride crystal to terahertz radiation causes it to show optical birefringence and change the polarization of transmitting light, making it useful as a detector. [3] A crystal of zinc telluride can be used for terahertz imaging, when illuminated by a readout laser beam, making the changes caused by exposure to teraherz radiation visible. [4] Gallium phosphide can be used for the same purpose as well. However, the quality of the materials vary wildly from vendor to vendor and even from batch to batch. [5] Radio waves sent at terahertz frequencies, known as terahertz radiation, terahertz waves, T-rays, T-light, T-lux and THz, are in the region of the light spectrum between 300 gigahertz (3x1011 Hz) and 3 terahertz (3x1012 Hz), corresponding to the wavelength range starting at submillimeter (<1 millimeter) and 100... Lithium niobate (LiNbO3) is a compound of niobium and lithium. ... A calcite crystal laid upon a paper with some letters showing the double refraction Birefringence, or double refraction, is the decomposition of a ray of light into two rays (the ordinary ray and the extraordinary ray) when it passes through certain types of material, such as calcite crystals, depending on... Gallium phosphide (GaP), a phosphide of gallium, is a compound semiconductor material with indirect band gap of 2. ...

For terahertz processing, zinc telluride crystals have to be cooled with liquid nitrogen. General Name, Symbol, Number Nitrogen, N, 7 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 15 (VA), 2 , p Density 1. ...

Vanadium doped zinc telluride (ZnTe:V) is a non-linear optical photorefractive material with possible use to protect sensors at visible wavelengths, as an electro-optic power limiter (EOPL). ZnTe:V optical limiters are light and compact, without complicated optics of conventional limiters. ZnTe:V can block a high-intensity jamming beam from a laser dazzler, while still passing the lower-intensity image of the observed scene. [6] It can also be used in holographic interferometry, in reconfigurable optical interconnections, and in laser phase conjugation devices. It offers superior photorefractive performance at wavelengths between 600-1300 nm, in comparison with other III-V and II-VI compound semiconductors. By adding manganese as an additional dopant (ZnTe:V:Mn), its photorefractive yield can be significantly increased. [7] Vanadium is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol V and atomic number 23. ... In semiconductor production, doping refers to the process of intentionally introducing impurities into an intrinsic semiconductor in order to change its electrical properties. ... Nonlinear optics is the branch of optics that describes the behaviour of light in nonlinear media, that is, media in which the polarization P responds nonlinearly to the electric field E of the light. ... The photorefractive effect is a nonlinear optical effect seen in certain crystals and other materials that respond to light by altering their refractive index. ... The optical spectrum (light or visible spectrum) is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye. ... Dazzler is a type of a directed-energy weapon employing intense visible light, usually generated by a laser (laser dazzler). ... Holography (from the Greek, Όλος-holos whole + γραφή-graphe writing) is the science of producing holograms, an advanced form of photography that allows an image to be recorded in three dimensions. ... Interferometry is the applied science of combining two or more input points of a particular data type, such as optical measurements, to form a greater picture based on the combination of the two sources. ... General Name, Symbol, Number manganese, Mn, 25 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 7, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Atomic mass 54. ...

See also

• Zinc sulfide
• Zinc selenide
• Cadmium telluride
• Cadmium zinc telluride