Available online at www.scholarsresearchlibrary.com Scholars Research Library Archives of Applied Science Research, 2011, 3 (2):422-430 (http://scholarsresearchlibrary.com/archive.html) ISSN 0975-508X CODEN (USA) AASRC9 422 Scholar Research Library Chemical deposition of (CdHg)Te ternary thin films B.R Arbad a , Sachin G Chonde a , Prakash P. Hankare b and Vijaykumar M. Bhuse* c a Chemistry Department, Dr B.A.M.U Aurangabad, India b Chemistry Department, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, India c Chemistry Department, Government Rajaram College, Kolhapur, India ___________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT A substitutional solid solution of mercury telluride in cadmium telluride (Cadmium Mercury Telluride, CMT) is considered as a third generation detector and an important photovoltaic material in material science. This paper describes a methodology to prepare CMT for the first time using a chemical deposition technique at 353K temperature. The reactive homogeneous bath solution was prepared by mixing ammonia complexed mercuric nitrate, cadmium nitrate and a metastable sodium tellurosulphate (Na 2 TeSO 3 ) at 353K temperature. The substrates were rotated with a low speed of 45 rpm in the reactive bath. A slow rise in temperature to 383K in a span of 3 hours gives rise CMT film. We observe formation of CMT film only in hot condition and with the use of freshly prepared Sodium tellurosulphate. The as deposited film was characterized by X-ray diffraction, optical absorption, electrical, conductivity, scanning electron microscope and EDAX measurements. The film was polycrystalline in a single cubic phase with average crystallites size of 300Å. The optical band gap of 0.83 eV obeying direct transition law was observed. The film showed n- type conduction mechanism. Keywords: Chalcogenides, Chemical synthesis, Electron microscopy, Electrochemical properties. ___________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Cadmium mercury telluride (CMT) is an important semiconductor material of fundamental interest since few decades owing to its widespread applications in industrial, space and military systems [1]. It bears excellent characteristics to tune its optical band gap and electrical properties with the composition parameter of the two components involved (viz. CdTe and HgTe) [2]. This material bears a high optical absorption coefficient, high electron mobility and low thermal carrier generation rate to qualify for photoconductive and photovoltaic applications [3]. Mercury rich CMT being an important member of the third generation detectors, find applications as multicolor photodiodes, high operating temperature detectors, avalanche photodiodes, very long wavelength infrared (VLWIR) photodiodes,