Abstract
The optical and electrical properties of the rare‐earth nitrides DyN, ErN, and HoN as well as ScN and YN have been surveyed. From absorption edges found in the optical transmission curves, energy gaps in the 2‐eV range were determined as follows: DyN 2.60–2.90 eV, ErN 2.40–2.78 eV, HoN 1.70–1.88 eV, where the spread in energies is due to differences observed in two experimental runs. For ScN and YN no definite absorption edge was found. The electrical properties from 80° up to 1500°K were found to be metallic with associated large concentrations of electron carriers. These results are interpreted to suggest that the present species of nitrides which were all deficient in nitrogen content are high energy gap defect type degenerate semiconductors. The large concentrations of charge carriers are attributed to the lack of stoichiometry so far achieved.

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