Crystalline Quality, Composition Homogeneity, Tellurium Precipitates/Inclusions Concentration, Optical Transmission, and Energy Band Gap of Bridgman Grown Single-Crystalline Cd1−xZnxTe (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1)

Abstract

Cd1−xZnxTe (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1) ingots were obtained by Bridgman’s method using two different speeds in order to find the optimal conditions for single-crystalline growth. Crystalline quality was studied by chemical etching, the elemental composition by wavelength dispersive spectroscopy (WDS), tellurium (Te) precipitates/inclusions concentration by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), optical transmission by Fourier transformed infrared spectrometry (FTIR), and band gap energy (Egap) by photoluminescence (PL). It was observed that the ingots grown at a lower speed were those of the best crystalline quality, having at most three grains of different crystallographic orientation. The average dislocations density in all of them were similar and correspond to materials of good quality. EPMA results indicated that the homogeneity in the composition was excellent in the ingots central part. The concentration of Te precipitates/inclusions in all ingots was below the instrument (DSC) detection limit, 0.25% wt/wt. In the case of wafers from Cd0.96Zn0.04Te and Cd0.90Zn0.10Te ingots, the optical transmission was better than that of commercial materials and varied between 60% and 70%, while for pure CdTe, the transmission range was between 50% and 55%, the latter being decreased by the presence of Te precipitates/inclusions. The band gap energy Eg of different wafers was experimentally obtained by PL measurements at 76 K. We observed that Eg increased with the Zn concentration of the wafers, following a linear regression comparable to those proposed in the literature, and consistent with the results obtained with other techniques.

Formation and characterization of a CuPt-A type ordered structure in cadmium zinc telluride single crystals

“…In general, the above-mentioned defects are harmful to the photoelectric properties of the material, because the existence of these defects destroys the periodicity of the crystal lattice and hinders the transport of carriers. 18,19 Moreover, a high density of Te precipitates or inclusions may result in high surface leakage current and poor spectrometric performance due to the higher electrical conductivity of Te. 20,21 The structure, distribution and formation mechanism of such secondary phase impurities have also been extensively investigated in bulk single crystals.…”