Liquid Semiconductors

substances that have semiconductor properties in the liquid state. The melting of many solid semiconductors, such as silicon and germanium, is accompanied by a sharp increase in their electrical conductivity, up to values typical of metals, rfowever, there are some semiconductors that are characterized by a decrease in conductivity upon melting (HgSe) or by the retention of a low level of conductivity. These materials retain in the liquid state the semiconductor-type dependence of electrical conductivity on temperature. There are a number of liquid semiconductors that lose their semiconducting properties at high temperatures and acquire metallic properties. For example, tellurium-selenium alloys are semiconductors in the solid state, as well as in the molten state. Further heating of tellurium-selenium alloys rich in tellurium leads to a rapid increase in their electrical conductivity, and they become metals. The selenium-rich alloys, however, exhibit the opposite behavior: their electrical conductivity decreases, but the nature of its dependence on temperature is typical of semiconductors.