On the structure of liquid IV-VI semiconductors

The crystalline structure of most stoichiometric IV-VI semiconductors can b e viewed as a distortion of the NaCl structure, the distortion amplitude de pends on the components. As a result, corrugated planes of covalently bonde d atoms are linked by dispersion (Van der Waals) forces. Neutron scattering experiments were performed on the liquid phases of a series of IV-VI compo unds (GeS, GeSe, GeTe, SnS, SnSe and SnTe). We show that the evolution of t he local order is correlated with the conductivity measurements. (C) 1999 E lsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.