The horizontal casting of ingots for solid-state recrystallization was studied. This resulted in a marked improvement in the compositional uniformity and crystalline perfection of recrystallized Hg0.78Cd0.22Te crystals. Large samples, with Cd compositional variations of ±0.002, were obtained. Defect etching and X-ray topographic studies of these crystals revealed that only a limited sub-grain microstructure was present in most of the ingots, as compared to the marked sub-structure that was observed in bulk crystals. It was proposed that the large number of misfit dislocations that arose due to microscopic compositional variations in the casts were responsible for the recrystallization in solid-state recrystallized material. It was also suggested that the existence of large stoichiometric deviations at the growth temperature might be a principal cause of the excessive sub-grain microstructure which was observed in bulk grown crystals.

R.K.Sharma, V.K.Singh, N.K.Nayyar, S.R.Gupta, B.B.Sharma: Journal of Crystal Growth, 1993, 131[3-4], 565-73