Structural, optical, magnetic and electrical properties of dilute magnetic semiconductor Cd1-xMnxTe

Cd1-xMnxTe was prepared in the powder form by direct fusion technique. The structural properties of the prepared compounds were investigated by X-ray diffraction. It was found that, the materials crystallize in the zincblende form. The lattice parameters, the bond lengths and the crystallite size decrease with increasing the Mn content while the internal microstrain increases. The energy band gap has been calculated from optical and electrical measurements and was found to increase as the Mn content increases. The electrical conductivity increases with increasing temperature in the 300-550 K range. The line width (Delta H) of EPR spectra increases with increasing Mn content. The magnetic susceptibility shows non-linear variation with Mn concentration. (C) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.