Resistance anomaly due to displacive phase transition in SnTe

The effect of displacive phase transition on electrical transport properties is investigated in a p-type single crystal of SnTe with carrier concentration of 1.2 × 10²⁰/cm³ at 77 K. The resistivity vs temperature curve shows an anomalous increase in the vicinity of the transition temperature. An attempt is made to interpret the temperature dependence of the resistivity increment on the basis of the carrier-soft TO-phonon interaction.