The liquidus surfaces of ternary systems involving compound semiconductors: I. General thermodynamic analysis

Abstract

Based on the method of chemical potentials, a general thermodynamic equation for the liquidus surface of a ternary system has been derived relating the activities and partial molar enthalpies in the ternary melt to the composition and the molar enthalpy of the ternary solid. Particularly simple expressions, especially useful for compound semiconductors, were deduced from the general equation for a ternary liquid in equilibrium with i) a binary compoundA _mB_n incorporating a dilute soluteC and with ii) a continuous series of ternary solid solutions formed betweenA _mB_n andC _qB_r. Assuming regular ternary solution behavior in the melt, explicit liquidus equations for both of these cases (settingm=n=q=r=0.5) were obtained in terms of the liquid compositions and the heats of fusion of the binary compounds. It is shown that for a binary liquid, the ternary liquidus equation reduces to that of Vieland.