Electronic and transport properties of HgCdTe and HgZnTe

Abstract

Band structures are calculated for HgTe, CdTe, and ZnTe. A near band-edge approximation to the coherent potential approximation is used to compute the alloy band-gap variation and electron and hole effective masses in HgZnTe and HgCdTe. Both diagonal and off-diagonal disorder are included. The alloy-scattering contributions to the electron and hole mobilities are calculated and found to be unimportant for electrons but significant for hole transport. The consequences for hole mobility are found to be significant if anion disorder is present because of a valence-band offset.