Properties of bismuth-antimony alloys in UHF range

Bismuth, antimony and its alloys are the typical representatives of a class of semi-metals, the electrical conductivity of which is 10/sup 2/-10/sup 3/ times lower than is usual for metals conducting well an electrical current. The alloys of bismuth with antimony have semiconductor properties in a wide range of structures at temperatures below 77 K. However, they are insulators at temperatures close to 0 K. The electrical properties of bismuth, antimony and its alloys differ considerably from properties of normal metals. Previously the use of semi-metal BiSb with percentage of Bi and Sb from 8 % up to 25 % was shown to exhibit a high-sensitivity and small inertia as detectors of UHF radiation where thermoelectric effect is used. In this paper we consider some questions of further improvement of UHF radiation detectors based on semi-metals with the purpose of increasing their sensitivity, improving stability of operation and their stability to external climatic influences.