A THEORETICAL-STUDY OF THE PRESSURE-INDUCED STRUCTURAL PHASE-TRANSITION IN CDTE

We have performed first-principles, full-potential linear muffin-tin-o rbital (FPLMTO) calculations to study the structural phase transition in CdTe under pressure. By calculating the total energies of different phases we have shown that CdTe shows the following structural sequenc e with increasing pressure; zinc-blende --> cinnabar --> NaCl --> orth orhombic structure. This is in complete agreement with recent experime nts. We have also looked for the possibility of an additional phase tr ansition from the orthorhombic to the CsCl structure, which has been a nticipated for the isoelectronic compound HgTe in recent experiments.