On the nature of extended dislocations in deformed cadmium telluride

Abstract

Glide dislocations in specimens of single-crystal CdTe, which had been deformed at 200°C and 300°C, are shown by weak-beam, dark-field transmission electron microscopy to be dissociated into two Shockley partials. The partial separation is calculated to correspond to a stacking-fault energy of 10·1 ± 1·4 erg/cm². The presence of dissociated dislocations strongly suggests that the dislocations in CdTe are of the aB type (glide set). Constrictions are observed to occur at random intervals along the extended edge and near-edge dislocations in the samples, and the possible origins and nature of these constrictions are discussed.