hg 1 - x cd x te is an important semiconductor for use in photovoltaic and photoconductive infrared photon detectors . hg 1 - x cd x te can be grown by liquid phase epitaxy at atmospheric pressure from a te - rich solution in which case the hg vapor pressure is below 0 . 1 atm at 500 ° c . this low vapor pressure makes possible the use of open - tube , slider growth techniques . the present invention describes a covered graphite slider system which provides an additional source of hg , minimizes loss of hg from the source wafer and virtually prevents loss of hg from the 1 - y te y growth solution .