Phonon Conductivity of II-VI Semiconductors

It is shown in the present work that the change in the slope of $K$-vs-$T$ curve, which occurs in CdS and CdTe at a temperature beyond the conductivity maximum, can be explained by considering the separate contributions of longitudinal phonons and transverse phonons. The values of the limits of the different conductivity integrals for the different acoustic branches are taken from the theoretical work of Nusimovici and Birman for CdS and from Hayes's work for CdTe. The present work also establishes that transverse phonons make a major contribution towards phonon conductivity.