EP0140625A1
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Tellurides
Assignee: BAE Systems Electronics Ltd
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Filing: 1984-10-10
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2004-10-10
Abstract
Abstract @ A method of making pure hydrogen telluride is disclosed, involving the reaction of atomic hydrogen (produced by the microwave-induced dissociation of hydrogen gas) on pure metallic tellurium (9). The invention also provides a controlled method of making metal tellurides (especially cadmium mercury telluride for use in photodetector applications) involving the thermal decomposition of hydrogen telluride (however produced) over a hot substrate (14) in the presence of gaseous source(s) of the appropriate metal(s) (11). The use of hydrogen telluride (which has hitherto been considered to be too explosively unstable to be useful) enables cadmium mercury telluride to be synthesised at temperatures below 250°C.
Inventors
- 👤 Michael James Hyliands
- 👤 Malcolm John Bevan
- 👤 Karen Tace Woodhouse
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-06 05:24
CPC Classifications
C; C30; C30B; C30B25/00; C01; C01B; C01B19/00; C01B19/007; C23; C23C; C23C16/00; C23C16/22; C23C16/30; C23C16/305; C23C16/306; C30B29/00; C30B29/10; C30B29/46; C30B29/48
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 17
Claim 1
Independent Claim
70 words
A controlled method of producing a metal telluride wherein gaseous hydrogen telluride is uniformly mixed with a gaseous source of said metal, characterised in that flows of pure gaseous hydrogen telluride and gaseous sources of metal M and mercury are mixed and the flowing mixture is thermally decomposed by a heated substrate (14) to form a layer of metal mercury telluride ( M x Hg 1-x Te) on said substrate.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
70 words
A controlled method of producing a metal telluride wherein gaseous hydrogen telluride is uniformly mixed with a gaseous source of said metal, characterised in that flows of pure gaseous hydrogen telluride and gaseous sources of metal M and mercury are mixed and the flowing mixture is thermally decomposed by a heated substrate (14) to form a layer of metal mercury telluride ( M x Hg 1-x Te) on said substrate.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
39 words
2 A method according to Claim 1 wherein the partial pressure of the hydrogen telluride is between 1 and 10 Torr and the hydrogen telluride and gaseous sources of cadmium and mercury are diluted with an inert diluent gas.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
18 words
A method according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the temperature of said substrate is below 250°C.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
44 words
A method according to any preceding Claim wherein the relative flow rates of the hydrogen telluride and the gaseous source of metal M are varied so as to vary the composition M x Hg 1-x Te of the deposited telluride layer over its thickness.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
16 words
A method according to any preceding Claim wherein said gaseous source of mercury is mercury vapour.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
27 words
A method according to any preceding Claim wherein said metal M is cadmium and said gaseous source of the metal M is a volatile organometallic cadmium compound.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
14 words
A method according to Claim 6 wherein said organometallic compound is a cadmium alkyl.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
16 words
A method according to Claim 7 wherein said organometallic compound is dimethyl cadmium or diethyl cadmium.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
18 words
A method according to any preceding Claim wherein said substrate is heated by a microwave or R.F. source.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
39 words
A method according to any preceding Claim wherein an alkyl of aluminium, gallium, arsenic or phosphorus, or a hydride of silicon or germanium is decomposed with the hydrogen telluride at said substrate (14) to form a doped telluride layer.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
24 words
A method according to any preceding Claim wherein the hydrogen telluride is generated by an electric discharge between tellurium electrodes in a hydrogen atmosphere.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
18 words
A photodetector device incorporating a cadmium mercury telluride layer grown by a method according to any preceding Claim.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
101 words
Apparatus for forming a binary or ternary mercury telluride from hydrogen telluride and gaseous sources of mercury and optionally a metal M, said apparatus comprising a reactor vessel(10) housing both a substrate (14) and a tellurium surface (9), means (3d,4c,5a) for flowing hydrogen across said surface, a microwave cavity (8) surrounding at least part of said reactor vessel and arranged to dissociate hydrogen at said surface and thereby generate hydrogen telluride, and means (13) for heating said substrate to decompose the hydrogen telluride and gaseous source mercury and said metal M (if present) and form a telluride layer on said substrate.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
101 words
Apparatus for forming a binary or ternary mercury telluride from hydrogen telluride and gaseous sources of mercury and optionally a metal M, said apparatus comprising a reactor vessel(10) housing both a substrate (14) and a tellurium surface (9), means (3d,4c,5a) for flowing hydrogen across said surface, a microwave cavity (8) surrounding at least part of said reactor vessel and arranged to dissociate hydrogen at said surface and thereby generate hydrogen telluride, and means (13) for heating said substrate to decompose the hydrogen telluride and gaseous source mercury and said metal M (if present) and form a telluride layer on said substrate.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
40 words
A controlled method of making mercury telluride wherein gaseous hydrogen telluride is uniformly mixed with a gaseous source of mercury and the mixture is thermally decomposed by a hot substrate to form a layer of mercury telluride on said substrate.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
40 words
A controlled method of making mercury telluride wherein gaseous hydrogen telluride is uniformly mixed with a gaseous source of mercury and the mixture is thermally decomposed by a hot substrate to form a layer of mercury telluride on said substrate.
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