Hall effect and band structure of p-CdSb in strong magnetic field

The Hall effect in the anisotropic II–V group semiconductor p-CdSb is investigated at temperatures between T = 3.6 and 200 K and pulsed magnetic fields up to B = 25 T in unintentionally doped samples oriented along the crystallographic axes [100] and [010]. The Hall coefficient, R(B, T), with B ∥ [001] exhibits in low fields a flat region followed by a descending interval when B is increased. This behaviour is attributed to the presence of two groups of holes with concentrations p2(T) > p1(T) and mobilities μ2(T) Tcr p1 and p2 are related to the holes activated to the light- and heavy-hole bands, respectively. The analysis of μ1(T) and μ2(T) confirms the existence of the heavy-hole band or a non-equivalent maximum and two equivalent maxima of the light-hole valence band.