Journal of Crystal Growth 196 (1999) 71—76 Synthesis and growth of PbTe crystals at low temperature and their characterization V. Munoz, A. Lasbley, S. Klotz, R. Triboulet*  Laboratoire de Physique des Solides de Bellevue, CNRS, 1 Place Aristide Briand, F-92195 Meudon Cedex, France  Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, INSA, F-35043 Rennes Cedex, France  Laboratoire de Physique des Milieux Condenses, CNRS, URA 782, Universite & Pierre et Marie Curie, B 77, 4, Place Jussieu, F-75252 Paris, France Received 20 February 1998; accepted 12 September 1998 Abstract Lead telluride crystals have been grown for the first time by the cold traveling heater method. The structural properties of the crystals have been studied by neutron diffraction, and rocking-curves with a full-width at half-maximum of about 36 arcsec have been measured, indicating a very weak mosaicity. The lattice parameter of the crystals has been found to be & 0.64618$0.00004 nm by X-ray diffraction. Vickers microhardness in the range 25—30 kg/mm have been mea- sured, depending on the charge applied to the crystals. The electronic properties of the crystals, either as-grown or annealed, have been measured and demonstrate their very high purity level, as expected from the low-temperature growth and purification process by traveling heater method. Finally, the potentialities of PbTe as a substrate for the growth of HgCdTe layers are discussed in the light of all the results reported.  1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Cold traveling heater method; PbTe crystals; Neutron diffraction 1. Introduction Because of its interesting physical properties, lead telluride has been studied extensively for more * Corresponding author. Fax: #33 1 45 07 58 41; e-mail: triboulet@cnrs-bellevue.fr.  Present address: Departamento de Fı´sica Aplicada and In- stituto de Ciencia de Materiales de la Universidad de Valencia (ICMUV), c/Doctor Moliner no. 50, E-46100 Burjassot (Val- encia), Spain. than 40 years. Its small band gap and high carrier mobilities identify it as a basic material for infrared optoelectronic devices. The growth of PbTe crys- tals is achieved by several different growth tech- niques among which are the very frequently used Bridgman method, either from various melt com- positions or under controlled tellurium or lead vapor pressure [1—5], crystal pulling [6—9], sublimation [1,10—12], chemical vapor transport using either iodine or bromine as chemical trans- port agent [13,14] and solution growth in lead halogenides [15]. The growth of PbTe crystals 0022-0248/99/$ — see front matter  1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 0 2 2 - 0 2 4 8 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 8 8 2 - 3