JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 97, 053505 2005

Structural, optical, and electrical properties of AgIn5Te8

A. Snchez, L. Melndez, and J. Castro
Departamento de Fsica, Facultad Experimental de Ciencias, Universidad del Zulia, Maracaibo, Venezuela

J. A. Hernndez
Instituto Universitario de Tecnologa Industrial Rodolfo Loero Arismendi (IUTIRLA), Avenida Principal
La Beatriz, Edificio Iutirla. Coordinacon de Informtica, Valera, Venezuela

E. Hernndeza
Departamento de Fsica, Facultad Experimental de Ciencias, Universidad del Zulia, Oficina Postal
Telegrfica Galerias, Apartado 15645, Maracaibo, Venezuela

C. A. Durante Rincnb
Departamento de Fsica, Facultad Experimental de Ciencias, Universidad del Zulia, Oficina Postal
Telegrfica Galerias, Apartado 15645, Maracaibo, Venezuela

Received 14 October 2004; accepted 1 December 2004; published online 9 February 2005
AgIn5Te8 was prepared by direct fusion of the stoichiometric mixture of the elements in an
evacuated quartz ampoule. The analysis of x-ray powder diffraction data showed the presence of one
single phase with tetragonal structure. The lattice parameters a = 6.212 and c = 12.456 were
refined by means of the program WINPLOTR. Congruent fusion at 698 C was observed by
differential thermal analysis measurements performed on samples sealed in evacuated quartz
ampoules. Transmittance measurements were used to determine the absorption coefficient . Two
absorption edges were observed, one indirect at 1.1 eV and one direct at 1.28 eV, obtained from a
plot of h1/2 vs h and h2 vs h, respectively. A six-probe configuration was used to
measure the electrical resistivity and the Hall coefficient from 10 to 400 K. The activation energies
values, estimated at 1.1 and 1.27 eV from Arrhenius plots of the resistivity and the Hall coefficient,
respectively, agree with those obtained for the energy gaps by optical measurements. 2005
American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.1854207
INTRODUCTION

EXPERIMENTAL METHODS

The Ag2Te In2Te3 phase diagram has been described by

several authors.13 They show the existence of at least six
different intermediate phases in the indium-rich end of this
pseudobinary system. However, only the compounds
AgInTe2, Ag3In97Te147, and AgIn5Te8 have been confirmed
by more than one author.
The measurements on silver-based material, having a
large concentration of silver at about 24%, show that these
compounds are highly sensitive to optical and thermal stress
and hence could be useful for device applications.4 In fact,
the AgInTe2 has been used in nonlinear optical applications.
AgInTe2 is a member of the family I-III-VI2 chalcopyrite
semiconductors,5 whose physical properties have been studied in minor detail.6 This is mainly due to the fact that the
samples of this material are not easily obtainable because it
solidifies in a peritectic reaction and a second phase is expected to occur during the crystal growth.3
On the other hand, AgIn5Te8, with tetragonal space 2m,7 is relatively easy to obtain because it melts
group P4
congruently at 698 C.8 We found it interesting to devote a
study of this compound in order to determine the band-gap
energy and the electrical properties of this material.

The compound was prepared by direct fusion of the stoichiometric mixture of the elements of at least 5-N purity in
evacuated quartz ampoules 106 Torr. The ampoule was
previously coated with carbon.9 To minimize the risk of explosion due to exothermic reaction the ampoule was carefully heated up to 1100 C in a vertical furnace. Kept at this
temperature for 24 h, it was rocked thoroughly to agitate the
liquid phase of the reacting mixture and then cooled to
500 C at a rate of 5 C / h and annealed for 4 days.
X-ray diffraction measurements were carried out by the
powder method using a Siemens D-5005 diffractometer with
copper anode 2 / 1 0.5 and BraggBrentano geometry.
The pattern was obtained for 10 2 110 with a step
size of 0.02 and a step time of 40 s. The analysis of the
x-ray powder diffraction pattern showed in Fig. 1, using the
program WINPLOTR, confirms that AgIn5Te8 has a tetragonal
structure with cell parameters a = 6.212 and c = 12.456 ,
in good agreement with a = 6.1952 and c = 12.419 reported by Mora et al.7 The x-ray powder diffraction data are
listed in Table I.
Differential thermal analysis DTA measurements, performed on a Shimadzu DTA 50 apparatus, were used to
determine the AgIn5Te8 melting temperature. The sample
powder, 80 mg was sealed in an evacuated quartz ampoule. -Al2O3 powder was used as reference material. Several heating and cooling rates were used. The onset temperature for the DTA peaks was obtained for each heating or

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; FAX: 58-2617598160; electronic mail: elvis-hernandez@cantv.net
b
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; FAX: 58-2617591662; electronic mails: durin@cantv.net, cdurante@luz.edu.ve
a

0021-8979/2005/975/053505/4/$22.50

97, 053505-1

2005 American Institute of Physics

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053505-2

J. Appl. Phys. 97, 053505 2005

Snchez et al.

FIG. 1. X-ray powder diffraction pattern of AgIn5Te8.

TABLE I. X-ray powder diffraction data of AgIn5Te8.

hkl

2 Obs.

2 Cal.

d Obs.

101
110
112
103
200
202
211
212
213
220
006
301
310
312
224
321
322
323
400
402
411
330
316
325
307
334
424
501
318
336
521
523
408
3110
532
507
1112
620
536

15.93
20.198
24.783
25.789
28.714
32.178
33.009
35.343
38.979
41.07
43.558
44.306
46.177
48.557
50.835
53.65
55.27
57.895
59.462
61.482
61.997
63.477
65.35
65.857
69.607
71.087
74.762
77.079
78.267
80.149
84.228
87.742
88.931
94.154
94.373
98.248
99.389
103.293
108.705

15.929
20.198
24.782
25.788
28.717
32.177
33.006
35.347
38.975
41.061
43.561
44.306
46.17
48.553
50.829
53.657
55.272
57.898
59.467
61.482
61.99
63.479
65.345
65.855
69.606
71.086
74.773
77.077
78.288
80.144
84.223
87.739
88.94
94.15
94.361
98.251
99.377
103.293
108.711

5.559
4.393
3.5896
3.4518
3.1065
2.7795
2.7114
2.5376
2.3088
2.196
2.0761
2.0428
1.9643
1.8734
1.7947
1.707
1.6607
1.5915
1.5532
1.507
1.4957
1.4643
1.4268
1.4171
1.3496
1.3251
1.2688
1.2363
1.2205
1.1965
1.1487
1.1115
1.0997
1.0519
1.0501
1.0187
1.0101
0.9823
0.9479

Unit cell volume= 480.73 Ref. 3; M 20 = 103; F20 = 95 0.003199, 66

FIG. 2. Heating run at 15 C / min of AgIn5Te8. Open circles, solid line, and
dashed line represent DTA signal, temperature, and the first derivative of the
DTA signal, respectively. The onset temperature corresponds to the temperature associated to the peak of the first derivative of the DTA signal.

cooling rate from the first derivative of the DTA signal, as

shown in Fig. 2. The accurate value of the melting temperature was determined by extrapolating10 the onset temperatures of DTA peaks to zero heating or cooling rates Fig. 3.
The transmission of the AgIn5Te8 was measured at room
temperature using a fiber-optics spectrophotometer Ocean
Optics SD 2000. For this, the sample was thinned down to
the thickness of 30 m and then polished with slurries of
alumina of decreasing grid sizes down to 0.05 m in deionized water.
For the electrical measurements, the ingot was cut into
slices of 10 4 2 mm3. The conductivity was determined
to be p type by the conventional thermal probe method. Electrical contacts were made on the sample surface by diffusion
of indium during 10 min at 180 C in argon atmosphere. For
the measurements in the range from 10 to 300 K, the sample
was glued on the cold finger of a closed-cycle He cryostat
Janis model CCS 350S. The resistivity and the Hall effect
were measured using a 7065 Hall-effect card, a programmable current source model 220, a sensitive voltmeter model

FIG. 3. Extrapolation to zero heating or cooling rate of the onset temperatures obtained for AgIn5Te8.

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J. Appl. Phys. 97, 053505 2005

Snchez et al.

053505-3

FIG. 4. Absorption coefficient of AgIn5Te8.

FIG. 5. Plot of h1/2 and h2 vs h for AgIn5Te8.

182, and a 485 Pico ammeter, all from Keithley Instruments,

in a six-probe configuration and a magnetic field of
0.35 Tesla.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The optical absorption coefficient can be calculated

from transmission value T using the following expression:
T=

I 1 R2 exp t
,
I0 1 R2 exp 2t

where I and I0 are the transmitted and incident light intensity,

respectively, R is the material reflectivity 0.25, and t the
thickness. For high values of t the second term in the denominator of Eq. 1 can be neglected. Thus Eq. 1 is simplified to
T = 1 R2 exp t.

The error made by taking Eq. 2 instead of Eq. 1 is much

less than the error in thickness measurements which dominate the experimental accuracy. The absorption coefficient is
simply given by

1
1 R2
ln
.
t
T

straight line, showing that the indirect absorption edge is

1.11 eV, where the phonon energy contribution has been neglected.
Figure 6 shows the dependence of the electrical resistivity with the reciprocal temperature 1000/ T at low temperature. As seen from the plot, AgIn5Te8 behaves like a
lightly doped semiconductor. The vertical slope from 180 K
to room temperature corresponds to an intrinsic conduction
and yield to an activation energy of 1.11 eV. This value
agrees with that obtained from the plot of h1/2 vs h.
After this region, the decrease of resistivity with lowering
temperature is usually associated with weaker phonon scattering.
Figure 7 shows the dependence of the Hall coefficient
RH with the reciprocal temperature 1000/ T in the range
from 300 to 400 K. From this Arrhenius plot the activation
energy has been estimated at 1.27 eV, and agrees very well
with that obtained from the plot of h2 vs h of the
direct allowed transition.

The edge of the fundamental absorption is directly related to

the energy gap. Figure 4 shows the energy dependence of the
absorption coefficient of AgIn5Te8 calculated by means of
Eq. 3, where direct and indirect transitions are clearly observed. Both occur in this compound but the indirect transition, although it requires less energy than the direct transition, has a smaller probability and therefore it appears as a
shoulder in the absorption spectra.
As shown in Fig. 5, at the higher-energy region from
1.2 to 1.3 eV, the h2 vs h plot fits to the straight line.
The direct absorption edge is thus derived to be 1.28 eV
from the interception of the straight line at = 0. Conversely,
at the lower-energy region from 1.1 to 1.2 eV, the
h1/2 vs h plot can be very well approximated by the

FIG. 6. Arrhenius plot of the electrical resistivity of AgIn5Te8 at low

temperatures.

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053505-4

J. Appl. Phys. 97, 053505 2005

Snchez et al.

fraction and DTA analysis, respectively. Two energy gaps,

one indirect at 1.1 eV and one direct at 1.27 eV, have been
determined from both optical and electrical measurements.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by grants from Consejo de

Desarrollo Cientfico y Humanstico CONDES de la Universidad del Zulia under the Contract No. CC-0711-02 and
FONACIT de Venezuela under Contract No. F-97000965
and G97000670.
1

FIG. 7. Arrhenius plot of the Hall coefficient RH at high temperatures.

CONCLUSIONS

AgIn5Te8 has been successfully obtained by direct fusion of the stoichiometric mixture of the elements. All the
measurements of this work have been performed on samples
from the same ingot. The compound shows tetragonal structure and congruent fusion, as seen from x-ray powder dif-

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