Quenching of photoconductivity and luminescence in natural crystals of mercury sulphide

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Trigonal HgS is a wide bandgap semiconductor possessing a twofold coordinated low symmetry structure highly unusual among II-VI compounds. The authors have investigated the photoelectronic properties of two types of high purity natural HgS crystals. Measurements of temperature dependent electrical conductivity, thermal and infrared quenching of photoconductivity, and luminescence have been used to locate the energies of several localized levels in the forbidden gap. A similar distribution of energies is deduced for the two varieties of natural crystals, although luminescence and the optical quenching of photoconductivity are weaker in one type containing a small amount of Fe impurity. Despite its distinctive crystal structure, the results presented for trigonal HgS are quite similar to those documented for zinc blende and wurtzite structure II-VI semiconductors.