An analysis was made of the slow and fast components of 203Hg and 109Cd self-diffusion profiles in Hg0.8Cd0.2Te. It was shown that models which attributed both components to volume diffusion processes were incorrect, and disagreed with experimental evidence. Satisfactory fits to experimental profiles were obtained by using the dislocation and grain boundary diffusion analyses of LeClaire and Rabinovitch; in which the slow component represented volume self-diffusion and the fast component represented dislocation or grain boundary diffusion. A consideration of the evidence led to the conclusion that (sub) grain boundaries, rather than dislocations, were probably responsible for the fast diffusion tails.

Shaw, D.: Semiconductor Science and Technology, 1992, 7[10], 1230-6