Appearance of enriched Hg regions in solid state in CdHgTe crystals

Electron-probe methods have been used to study the evolution of the topology of near-surface macroscopic growth defects and macroscopic defects introduced by mechanical processing in Cd/sub x/Hg/sub 1-x/Te (x = 0.2) crystals (CMT crystals). When the samples were stored for a long time, the formation of inclusions saturated with mercury or tellurium was observed in the region of the macroscopic defects. The effective self-diffusion coefficients of mercury, estimated from the growth rate of the mercury inclusions at their formation stage, exceeded those known from the literature. The possible causes of such a discrepancy are discussed; they are connected, in particular, with the fact that the mass-transfer process involves internal elastic stresses that arise when the surface is mechanically processed, when diffusional fluxes that differ in their mechanisms are applied, etc.