X-ray powder diffraction refinement of Cu2ZnGeTe4 structure and phase diagram of the Cu2GeTe3-ZnTe system

The phase diagram of the Cu2GeTe3-ZnTe system was investigated using differential thermal analysis and X-ray diffraction. A Cu2ZnGeTe4 compound forms in the system that melts incongruently at 823 K. Its crystal structure was refined using powder X-ray diffraction. Cu2ZnGeTe4 crystallizes in the tetragonal space group I4¯2m (structure type Cu2FeSnS4) with lattice constants a = 0.59540(4) nm, c = 1.1848(1) nm, c/a = 1.990. The atomic parameters were refined in the isotropic approximation to RI = 0.0786.