Single crystal growth, structure and properties of TlHgBr3

Abstract High-quality inclusion-free single crystals of ternary thallium mercury bromide, TlHgBr 3 , were successfully grown by Bridgman–Stockbarger method. For the pristine surface of the TlHgBr 3 single crystal, X-ray photoelectron core-level and valence-band spectra were measured. The comparison on a common energy scale of the X-ray photoelectron valence-band spectrum of TlHgBr 3 and the X-ray emission Br Kβ 2 band, representing peculiarities of the energy distribution of the Br 4p states revealed that the main contribution of the valence Br p states, occurred in the upper portion of the valence band, with also their significant contributions in other valence band regions. It has been determined that TlHgBr 3 is a semiconductor with the bandgap energy value of E g = 2.51 eV at 100 K. The E g value decreased up to 2.44 eV when temperature increased to 300 K.