Solid immiscibility and liquid structure in the Ga 2(Se xTe 1− x) 3 alloy system

Abstract

Differential thermal analysis and X-ray diffraction studies of the system Ga 2(Se x Te 1− x ) 3 are reported and correlated with measurements of the electrical conductivity in the liquid state. The experiments reveal that Ga 2Te 3 and Ga 2Se 3 do not form a continuous series of pseudo-binary solid solutions but exhibit solid state immiscibility in the range 0.50 ≲ x ≲ 0.90. The composition dependence of the conductivity of the liquid alloys exhibits structure in the range of the solid state phase separation. Such “memory” in the liquid of a solid phase separation has not been reported previously and suggests the importance of concentration fluctuations in determining the electronic properties of the liquid alloys.