Microindentation Analysis of Bi2Te3 Crystals

Microindentation Analysis of Bi2Te3 Crystals

Recent trends and advancements in materials research and technology have led to a renewed interest in the growth of crystalline solids with better physical perfection and high purity. The major emphasis of investigations has been on the growth of single crystals and the study of their physical properties suitable for device fabrication. The availability of crystals from natural resources is inadequate to meet the need of industries and also do not give sufficient variety. Although crystal growth has been the subject of absorbing interest for many years, much of the latest developments have been stimulated due to its increasing commercial importance for the fabrication of thermoelectric, optoelectric and nonlinear optical devices. Crystal has an ordered arrangement of atoms or molecules in microscopic scale and the atomic regularity shows up in the internal and external symmetry. The change in crystal shape should be brought about by the difference in controlling mechanisms of the growth dynamics. It is inevitable to investigate the relationship between the growth mechanism and resulting growth morphology. The developments in crystal technology have significant contribution to many areas of basic and applied solid state research. Industries currently rely on bulk grown crystals of a variety of materials. Hence, single crystals have been extensively studied to explore their novel physical properties and potential applications. The first chapter deals with an introduction to the crystal growth, followed by a brief history of semiconducting materials. A detailed account on the properties and applications of bismuth telluride crystals is reported. This chapter concludes with different mechanical properties and scope of the research problem. A review of literature to present theoretical knowledge on growth and characterization of bismuth telluride crystals is given in chapter 2. Chapter 3 outlines the experimental procedures and different characterization techniques used for the present work. A detailed study on the vapour and melt growth of bismuth telluride crystals and its mechanical properties is also reported. Chapter 4 is devoted to provide a detailed discussion on the results obtained from experimental research. Final chapter covers the summary and conclusions of this research work. The report ends with a reference section, listed as per the international standards.

T Rasmi

Department of Physics