Theoretical study of the pressure-induced B3–B1 phase transition in Cd1−xMnxTe

The high pressure phase transition in Cd1−xMnxTe (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5), which is from the cubic zinc-blende structure (B3) to the NaCl structure (B1), is investigated by using first principles spin-polarized LCAO calculations based on the density functional theory (DFT) formalism. The calculations indicate that the transition pressure of the B3-to-B1 structural phase transformation depends on the Mn content of the sample. This result is consistent with the expectation that the substitution of Cd by Mn in CdTe tends to perturb the tetrahedral coordination geometry and thereby to destabilize the B3 structure. Several structural properties (equilibrium lattice constant, bulk modulus, transition pressure, etc.) of Cd1−xMnxTe (x = 0.0, 0.25 and 0.5) CdTe have been calculated, which are in agreement with the previous results.

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