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ARTICLE

Thermodynamic properties of chalcogenide and pnictide ternary tetrahedral semiconductors

S. Pal^a, D. Sharma^b, M. Chandra^c, M. Mittal^d, P. Singh^e, M. Lal^f, A. S. Verma^g,h,*

a Department of Physics, Nilamber Pitamber University, Medininagar, Palamu, Jharkhand 822101 India
b Department of Applied Sciences & Humanities, IIMT College of Engineering Greater Noida 201310 India
c Department of Physics, Poornima Institute of Engineering & Technology, Jaipur 302022 India
d Department of Physics, Dhanauri PG College, Roorkee, Haridwar 247667 India
e Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, KIET Group of Institutions, Ghaziabad 201206, India
f Department of Physics, Government Degree College, Una, Himachal Pradesh 174303 India
g Division of Research & Innovation, School of Applied and Life Sciences, Uttaranchal University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 284007 India
h University Centre for Research & Development, Department of Physics, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab 140413 India

* Corresponding Author:

Chalcogenide Letters 2024, 21(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.15251/CL.2024.211.1

Received 03 September 2023; Accepted 02 January 2024;

Abstract

In this paper, we present thermodynamic properties such as heat of formation, heat of fusion and entropy of fusion for chalcopyrite structured solids with the product of ionic charges and nearest neighbour distance d (Å). The heat of formation (∆Hf) of these compounds exhibit a linear relationship when plotted on a log-log scale against the nearest neighbour distance d (Å), but fall on different straight lines according to the ionic charge product of the compounds. On the basis of this result two simple heat of formation (∆H_f)——heat of fusion (∆H^F), and heat of formation (∆H_f)——entropy of fusion (∆S^F), relationship are proposed and used to estimate the heat of fusion (∆H^F) and entropy of fusion (∆S^F) of these semiconductors. We have applied the proposed relation to A^II B^IVC₂ ^V and A^I B^IIIC₂ ^VI chalcopyrite semiconductor and found a better agreement with the experimental data than the values found by earlier researchers. The results for heat of formation differ from experimental values by the following amounts: 0.3% (CuGaSe₂), 6.7% (CuInSe₂), 5% (AgInSe₂), 5% (ZnGeP₂), 6% (ZnGeP₂), 0.4% (ZnSnP₂), 0.7% (ZnSiAs₂), 2.6% (ZnGeAs₂), 1.2% (ZnSnAs₂), 3.8% (CdGeP₂), 6.4% (CdGeAs₂), the results for heat of fusion differ from experimental values by the following amounts: 2.6% (CuGaS₂), 0.6% (CuInTe₂), 6% (ZnGeAs₂), 8.8% (ZnSiAs₂) and the results for entropy of fusion differ from experimental values by the following amounts: 6% (CuInSe₂), 8% (CdSiP₂).

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Keywords

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