Zinc arsenide (Zn₃As₂) is a

binary compound In materials chemistry, a binary phase or binary compound is a chemical compound containing two different elements. Some binary phase compounds are molecular, e.g. carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). More typically binary phase refers to extended soli ...

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

with

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...

which forms gray

tetragonal In crystallography, the tetragonal crystal system is one of the 7 crystal systems. Tetragonal crystal lattices result from stretching a cubic lattice along one of its lattice vectors, so that the cube becomes a rectangular prism with a square ...

crystals. It is an

inorganic In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as '' inorganic chemist ...

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrical conductivity value falling between that of a electrical conductor, conductor, such as copper, and an insulator (electricity), insulator, such as glas ...

with a

band gap In solid-state physics, a band gap, also called an energy gap, is an energy range in a solid where no electronic states can exist. In graphs of the electronic band structure of solids, the band gap generally refers to the energy difference (in ...

of 1.0 eV.

Synthesis and reactions

Zinc arsenide can be prepared by the reaction of

with

:3 Zn + 2 As → Zn₃As₂

Structure

Zn₃As₂ has a room-temperature

form that converts to a different tetragonal phase at 190 °C and to a third phase at 651 °C. In the room-temperature form, the zinc atoms are tetrahedrally coordinated and the arsenic atoms are surrounded by six zinc atoms at the vertices of a distorted cube. The crystalline structure of zinc arsenide is very similar to that of cadmium arsenide (Cd₃As₂), zinc phosphide (Zn₃P₂) and cadmium phosphide (Cd₃P₂). These compounds of the Zn-Cd-P-As quaternary system exhibit full continuous solid-solution.

Electronic structure

Its lowest direct and indirect bandgaps are within 30 meV or each other.

References

arsenide In chemistry, an arsenide is a compound of arsenic with a less electronegative element or elements. Many metals form binary compounds containing arsenic, and these are called arsenides. They exist with many stoichiometries, and in this respect ars ...

II-V semiconductors II-V compounds Soviet chemical weapons program {{inorganic-compound-stub