Cathodoluminescence of cadium diphosphide crystals

Abstract

An investigation is made of the Cathodoluminescence spectra of CdP2 crystals in the temperature range 6 to 300 K. A pulsing beam of high energy electrons (40 kV) is used in the experiment. The samples investigated are undoped, heat annealed in vacuum or saturated vapours of cadimum, and also doped with As an Bi, elements isoelectronic to phosphorus. The experimental results show that the fine structure present in the higher energy wing (2.02 to 2.14 eV) depends on the concentration of the uncontrolled nitrogen impurity in CdP2. Atoms of nitrogen give rise to exciton‐impurity complexes, leading to intense narrow peaks in the spectrum of Cathodoluminescence. Their location and nature are shown in a table.