Preparation and investigation of the quaternary alloy CuTaInSe3

Polycrystalline samples of the quaternary alloy CuTaInSe3 were prepared by the usual melt and anneal technique. The analysis of the diffraction pattern indicates a single phase which indexes as a tetragonal chalcopyrite-like structure with lattice parameters a = 5.7837 ± 0.0002 Å; c = 11.6208 ± 0.0007 Å and V = 389 ± 1 Å3. Differential thermal analysis shows that the melting transition of CuTaInSe3 is incongruent with large liquid + solids regions.