Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Saint Petersburg, Russia¹  ; Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University LETI, Saint Petersburg, Russia²:

S. A. Nemov, Professor at the Higher School of Physics and Materials Engineering¹, Professor at the Department of Photonics², Doctor of Physics & Mathematics Science, e-mail: nemov_s@mail.ru

Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Saint Petersburg, Russia:

V. D. Andreeva, Associate Professor at the Higher School of Physics and Materials Engineering1, Candidate of Technical Science, e-mail: andreeva_vd@spbstu.ru

Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia:
A. V. Povolotskiy, Deputy Director of the Resource Centre, Candidate of Physics & Mathematics Science, e-mail: alexey.povolotskiy@spbu.ru

Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University, Saint Petersburg, Russia:
A. N. Kushchenko, Assistant Lecturer at the Department of General and Technical Physics, Candidate of Technical Science, e-mail: Kuschenko_AN@pers.spmi.ru
I. Yu. Mukharaeva, Assistant Lecturer at the Department of General and Technical Physics, Candidate of Physics & Mathematics Science, e-mail: Mukharaeva_IYu@pers.spmi.ru

Pb – Sb – Te compositions are widely used in non-ferrous metallurgy and in today’s materials science. They are also used in lead-antimony alloys. By introducing different doping agents into alloys, one can achieve enhanced mechanical, thermophysical and other physical properties, necessary in practical application. Recent years have seen a risen interest to the PbSb₂Te₄ compound, which can potentially be used as a thermoelectric material, for designing spintronics instruments and as a topological insulator. The available literature is lacking information on certain aspects that have to do with the design of PbSb₂Te₄-base materials with pre-defined properties. For example, it is not clear if PbSb2Te4 has conductivity that is typical of metals and how justified it would be to consider that compound a metal by pointing at its electrophysical properties. This paper describes and analyzes the results of X-ray structural and physical studies of PbSb₂Te₄ crystals grown based on Czochralski method. The peculiar phase composition of these crystals accounts for the inconsistent results of studies that looked at their electrophysical and optical properties. The optical band gap was estimated. Based on their electrophysical properties, the studied crystals are something between classical metals and semiconductors. They are characterized with a nonzero electrical conductivity and a concentration of current carriers (holes) at low (Т ≈ 77 К) temperatures. Their temperature dependence of conductivity is of metal nature and they are poorly alloyable in the narrow range of hole concentrations. Thanks to their own point electrically active defects, the samples have a high hole concentration (p ≈ 3.2·10²⁰ cm^–3) from the Hall effect data. At the same time, this compound has a small band gap (around 0.24 eV), which is typical of semiconductors.

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