Melting and Polymorphic Transitions for Some Group II-VI Compounds at High Pressures

The fusion curves of HgTe, CdTe, and CdSe have been determined over portions of the pressure interval, 0-50 kbar, by differential thermal analysis. Solid-solid transitions in HgTe, HgSe, CdTe, CdSe, and CdS have been investigated by the volume-discontinuity method. The sequences of pressure-induced polymorphic transitions in the II-VI compounds have been described in terms of mean atomic number and electro-negativity difference and also compared with previous correlations discovered for the Group VI elements and III-V compounds.