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Dependence of the Sn0/2+ charge state on the Fermi level in semi-insulating CdTe

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Abstract

We explored the growth and characteristics of CdTe doped with Sn to heighten our understanding of the role of deep levels on electrical compensation and trapping. We demonstrated, for the first time, the strong dependence of the SnCd charge state on the Fermi-level variation (2–3kT) in high-resistivity CdTe. The concentration of deep traps for electrons was determined by the number of doubly positively charged Sn2+ atoms. Thermoelectric-effect spectroscopy and photovoltage measurements revealed the conversion of the SnCd defect from the electron SnCd2+ trap to the hole SnCd0 trap. The results agree well with the existence of a negative U-center in the SnCd0/2+ defect. We also showed that the neutral Sn defect is responsible for the near midgap C-band → bound hole radiative transitions band with a maximum at 0.76 eV.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was financially supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic under Grant No. GACR 102/06/0258 and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. It is also a part of the research plan MSM 0021620834, which is financed by the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic. One author (R.B. James) wishes to gratefully acknowledge support from the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nonproliferation Research and Engineering, NA-22.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Semiconductor Physics, Kiev, 03028, Ukraine

    V. Babentsov

  2. Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Institute of Physics, Charles University, Prague CZ, 121 16, Czech Republic

    J. Franc & H. Elhadidy

  3. Materialforschungszentrum, Freiburg, D-79104, Germany

    A. Fauler & M. Fiederle

  4. Energy, Environment and National Security Directorate, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York, 11973, USA

    R.B. James

Authors
  1. V. Babentsov
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  2. J. Franc
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  3. H. Elhadidy
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  4. A. Fauler
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  5. M. Fiederle
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  6. R.B. James
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Correspondence to J. Franc.

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Babentsov, V., Franc, J., Elhadidy, H. et al. Dependence of the Sn0/2+ charge state on the Fermi level in semi-insulating CdTe. Journal of Materials Research 22, 3249–3254 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2007.0404

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2007.0404

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