Transmission electron microscopic investigations were made of Hg0.8Cd0.2Te crystals which had been grown by using the travelling heater method. In as-grown material, Hg vacancies agglomerated during cooling of the solid and were found mainly in the form of vacancy loops, on octahedral (111) planes, at a density of about 1015/cm3. These defects completely disappeared upon annealing under Hg-saturated conditions. The estimated total number of vacancies correlated very well with the point defect concentration which was estimated from the deviation from stoichiometry at the liquid/solid interface temperature.

F.M.Kiessling, H.S.Leipner: Journal of Crystal Growth, 1993, 128[1-4], 599-603