GeTe

Germanium telluride · GeTe

Germanium telluride is a crystalline semiconductor material known for its phase-change properties. It is widely utilized in advanced memory technologies due to its ability to rapidly switch between distinct structural states.

Crystal structure of GeTe (trigonal, R3m (No. 160))
Ground-state structure · Materials Project
Overview

Key Properties

Cross-validated computational properties for Germanium telluride, aggregated across 6 databases.

Band Gap

0.15–2.18 eV
Range across DFT structures

Energy Above Hull

0.000 eV/atom
Best (lowest) across sources

Stability

On hull (stable)
4 DFT sources

Structures

90
6 databases, 22 space groups
Validation

Cross-Source DFT Agreement

How well independent DFT databases agree on the thermodynamics of GeTe. Tight agreement means computed properties can be trusted without re-running calculations.

Agreement Score

1.00 / 1.00
Trust tier: high

Hull Spread

0.000 eV
EAH spread across sources

Sources Compared

3
jarvis, materials_project, nomad

Space Group Consensus

All match
Crystallography

Reported Structures

Lowest-energy structures reported for GeTe, ranked by energy above hull.

Space GroupCrystal SystemBand Gap (eV)E above hull (eV/atom)E/atom (eV)Density (g/cm³)
R3m (No. 160)trigonal0.560.0000-19.6805.95
Fm-3m (No. 225)cubic0.410.0203-19.6606.13
Pnma (No. 62)orthorhombic0.150.0280-19.6525.57
Pbcn (No. 60)orthorhombic0.000.1145-19.5664.40
R3m (No. 160)trigonal0.700.1257-19.5545.01
Pm-3m (No. 221)cubic0.000.3256-19.3546.54
Cm (No. 8)monoclinic2.180.8065-18.8740.60
P-1 (No. 2)Triclinic8.28
P-1 (No. 2)Triclinic6.48
P2/c (No. 13)Monoclinic4.63
R3m (No. 160)
Fm-3m (No. 225)
Uses

Applications

Where Germanium telluride is used.

Phase-change memory devicesThermoelectric generatorsOptical data storageSolid-state electronics
Reference

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Germanium telluride, answered from cross-validated data.

What is GeTe?

Germanium telluride is a crystalline semiconductor material known for its phase-change properties. It is widely utilized in advanced memory technologies due to its ability to rapidly switch between distinct structural states.

More questions
What is GeTe used for?
Germanium telluride (GeTe) is used in phase-change memory devices, thermoelectric generators, optical data storage, and solid-state electronics.
What is the band gap of GeTe?
Germanium telluride (GeTe) has a DFT-computed band gap of 0.15–2.18 eV across 90 reported structures.
Is GeTe a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
With a band gap up to 2.18 eV it is a semiconductor.
Is GeTe thermodynamically stable?
Yes — Germanium telluride (GeTe) sits on the convex hull (energy above hull 0 eV/atom), i.e. on hull (stable).
What is the crystal structure of GeTe?
The lowest-energy reported polymorph of Germanium telluride (GeTe) is trigonal symmetry, space group R3m (No. 160).
What is the density of GeTe?
The computed density of the ground-state structure of Germanium telluride (GeTe) is 5.95 g/cm³.
How many polymorphs of GeTe are known?
90 structures of GeTe are reported across 6 databases, spanning 22 distinct space groups.
What elements does GeTe contain?
Germanium telluride (GeTe) contains Ge and Te (2 elements).
Where does the data for GeTe come from?
GeTe data is cross-referenced from materials_project, mpaloe, jarvis.
Explore

Related Compounds

Other Phase-Change Memory Materials in the database.

Data sources & attribution
  • materials_project — Data from the Materials Project. Cite: Jain et al., APL Materials 1, 011002 (2013).
  • mpaloe — Data from mpaloe.
  • jarvis — Data from JARVIS (NIST). Cite: Choudhary et al., npj Comp. Mater. 6, 173 (2020).

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