Silver telluride is a chemical compound, a telluride

Telluride (chemistry)

The telluride ion is Te2−. It is the final stable member of the series of dianions O2−, S2−, and Se2− ....

 of silver

Silver

Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

, also known as disilver telluride or silver(I) telluride. It forms a monoclinic crystal. In a wider sense, silver telluride can be used to denote AgTe (silver(II) telluride, a metastable compound) or Ag₅Te₃.

Silver(I) telluride occurs naturally as the mineral hessite

Hessite

Hessite is a mineral form of disilver telluride . It is a soft, dark grey telluride mineral which forms monoclinic crystals.It is named after Germain Henri Hess ....

, whereas silver(II) telluride is known as empressite

Empressite

Empressite is a mineral form of silver telluride, AgTe.It is a rare, grey, orthorhombic mineral with which can form compact masses, rarely as bipyrimidal crystals....

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Silver telluride is a semiconductor

Semiconductor

A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...

 which can be doped both n-type and p-type. Stochoimetric Ag₂Te has n-type conductivity. On heating silver is lost from the material.

Non-stoichiometric silver telluride has shown extraordinary magnetoresistance

Magnetoresistance

Magnetoresistance is the property of a material to change the value of its electrical resistance when an external magnetic field is applied to it. The effect was first discovered by William Thomson in 1856, but he was unable to lower the electrical resistance of anything by more than 5%. This...

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