TRANSPORT-COEFFICIENTS AND THERMOELECTRIC FIGURE OF MERIT OF N-HG1-XCDXTE

The conductivity, Hall coefficient, and thermopower of Hg1-xCdxTe (MCT ) are calculated for 0<x<0.3 at temperatures below 400 K and donor dop ing lower than 10(19) CM-3 . The results are obtained by solving the B oltzmann equation with the iteration method, including scattering of t he carriers by ionized impurities, optical and acoustic phonons, and a lloy potential. The agreement between the calculation and a large amou nt of compiled experimental data is excellent for bulk samples and thi ck films grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. Using tabulated data for the thermal conductivity the thermoelectric figure of merit Z is calculat ed, and in the most favorable conditions of doping and composition ZT is less than 0.33 at T=300 K. The potential for increasing the ZT of M CT is discussed.