The following was investigated on CdTe single crystals: the kinetics of spontaneous elongation of dislocation arms arising near the indentor impression on the (111) face at room temperature; the kinetics of stress relaxation in the early stages of deformation in the vicinity of the yield point at 200, 225, 250, 273 and 300 K; the temperature dependence of the yield point in the temperature range 200-300 K. The experimental data for the temperature dependence of macroscopic plasticity parameters are well described by the model of dislocation movement in the Peierls relief by the kink pair mechanism for the case of low effective stresses r* when the equation for the average dislocation velocity is v-exp[-nkp ( r*)/kT] with the activation enthalpy Hkp = 2H k -2a( ,g,)1[2. According to our estimates, the parameters of the theory have the following values: enthalpy of kink pair formation 2H k = 0.6 eV, a = 10 -23 N 1/2 m 2, and Peierls stress rp = 21 MPa. To explain the temperature dependence of the yield point we suppose that it is determined not only by the natural contribution r*(T) but also by the temperature dependence of internal stresses r~(T). The empirical values of r~(T) obtained in the temperature region studied can be assigned to development of the superjogs structure on dislocations. The average distance between the superjogs impenetrable to kinks is estimated to be L ~< 10/tm.
The process of dislocation arm elongation can be described by the empirical formula l (t,P) -p1/3tl/3 (P is the indentation load, t is time). This dependence follows from the assumption that the velocity of a single dislocation in an array can be described by the equation v -(r*) m exp( -Ho/kT) at m = 1.