The study of these non-cubic compounds provides new insights into semiconductor physics.
Pure Physics Through "Pure" Chemistry To obtain meaningful physical data, pure compounds are needed—compounds whose purity cannot be measured by conventional analytical means. At IBM Research, chemists have been p r e p a r i n g single crystals of non-cubic Group II-V semiconductors by several methods and studying the physical chemistry, purification, and crystal growth of these compounds. Another group, solid-state physicists, working in cooperation with the chemists, has been determining the electrical, optical, thermal, and resonance properties of these compounds. Significant in this re-*
search has been the observation of the effect of crystalline anisotropy on these fundamental properties. From this close association of physicists and chemists have come advances in the fundamental knowledge of solid-state science. For example, out of the observations came the prediction that in one of these compounds, CdAs2, cyclotron resonance might be detected. It was. In subsequent studies, cyclotron resonance was also detected in CdSb and ZnSb. Through this work, the number of semiconductors that exhibit cyclotron r e s o n a n c e has b e e n doubled—because the compounds needed
to make the observations were made available by IBM Research scientists. Furthermore, the interpretation of the electrical and optical measurements makes it possible to determine quantitatively how changes in preparation affect the quality of the compounds. Our scientists are continuing to investigate the chemical and physical properties of these compounds to gain a better understanding of the fundamental nature of semiconductors.
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