Surface tension and contact angle of molten semiconductor compounds: I. cadmium telluride

Abstract

The surface tension and contact angle of molten CdTe were measured by the sessile drop technique. The dependence of surface tension and contact angle on temperature and on the deviations from stoichiometry was determined. A computer program was used to calculate the properties from the sessile drop profile. The wetting behaviour of the melt was studied on the following surfaces: quartz, HF-etched quartz, sandblasted quartz, carbon-coated quartz and pyrolytic boron nitride. The surface tension of molten CdTe decreased with increasing temperature, but increased slightly with excess Cd. The degree of wetting increased in the following order: pyrolytic boron nitride, carbon-coated quartz, sandblasted quartz, HF-etched quartz and plain quartz. The contact angle decreased with increasing temperature and seemed to increase slightly with increasing Cd.