This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of the microindentation meth
od as a way to monitor the quality of cadmium telluride crystals. Meas
urements of microhardness and the length of dislocation rays from the
rosette around the indentation pit can clearly identify nonuniform dis
tributions of structural defects, both along the direction of growth a
nd along a diameter of a CdTe boule. The mobility of a dislocations is
more sensitive to nonuniformities in the structure than the mobility
of beta dislocations and the microhardness. A qualitative corresponden
ce is established between the microplasticity characteristics of CdTe:
Ge and its germanium content: the hardness of the crystal is insensiti
ve to changes in the Ge content in the range from 3X10(16) to 1X10(17)
at/cm(3), but increases sharply beginning at a concentration of simil
ar to 1x10(17) at/cm(3). The correlation between the value of the micr
ohardness and the length of the dislocation rays from the rosette arou
nd the imprint of the indentor are analyzed. An estimate is obtained f
or the hardness of pure CdTe. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.