The growth of single crystals by the self-seeding technique

A self-seeding technique suitable for growing large single crystals of low- heat-conductivity materials from the melt is developed using industrially i mportant CdTe and Cd1-xZnxTe crystals as an example. A method of controllin g crystal composition by maintaining an "undersaturation" excessive partial pressure of a higher-volatility component over the melt, which was develop ed for preparing semiconductor materials, is applied to Cd-containing compo unds for the first time. With these modifications, rather perfect large CdT e and Cd1-xZnxTe single crystals are grown by the Obreimov-Shubnikov (gradi ent freeze) method. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.