Crystal structure of the cinnabar phase of HgTe.

Abstract

Angle-dispersive powder-diffraction techniques with an image-plate area detector and synchrotron radiation have been used to perform a structural refinement of mercury telluride in its cinnabar phase. We find that the structure is site-ordered with fractional coordinates of (u=0.641(1),0,1/3) and (v=0.562(1),0,5/6) for Hg and Te, respectively, at 3.6 GPa. The structure is substantially different from that of HgS cinnabar, with coordination much closer to fourfold.