Electrical conduction and self-diffusion in cuprous selenide at high temperature

Electrical conduction and diffusion of copper vacancies in nonstoichiometric cuprous selenide in the temperature interval from 500°C up to 850°C was examined. It was found that ionic component of total conductivity is about 5% at 700°C. The diffusion constant of the copper vacancies has extremely high absolute values. Its temperature dependence can be described by the equation D = 0·36 exp(−0·27kT) which gives the energy of activation for vacancy diffusion equal to 0·27 eV.