ABSTRACT
The lead chalcogenides Lead telluride, Lead selenide, and Phosphate buffered saline together with other IV-VI-type compounds possess an exceptional set of physical features described in many reviews. The residual mobilities in the lead chalcogenides are fully due to scattering by the ion cores. Successful calculations of the electron energy spectrum were fulfilled after the accumulation of a considerable amount of experimental data on the band structure of the lead chalcogenides. The cubic symmetry of the whole band structure is a consequence of the corresponding lattice symmetry. The presence of the inversion center in the lattice results in at least a double degeneracy of all electron energy bands. The idea of the metallic component of the chemical binding is important in the problem of instability of the IV-VI cubic lattices. The transport phenomena are determined by the carrier scattering mechanisms, in addition to the form and parameters of the electron spectrum.
