We describe here the characteristics of two types of high-quality PbTe p-njunctions, prepared in this work: (1) by thermal diffusion of In 4 Te 3 gas (TDJ), and (2) by ion implantation (implanted junction, IJ) of In (In-IJ) and Zn (Zn-IJ).The results, as presented here, demonstrate the high quality of these PbTe diodes.Capacitance-voltage (C-V) and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics have been measured.The measurements were carried out over a temperature range from ~ 10 K to ~ 180 K.The latter was the highest temperature, where the diode still demonstrated rectifying properties. This maximum operating temperature is higher than any of the earlier reported results.The saturation current density, J 0 , in both diode types, was ~ 10 -5 A/cm 2 at 80 K, while at 180 K J 0 ∼ 10 -1 A/cm 2 in TDJ and ~ 1 A/cm 2 in both ion-implanted junctions. At 80 K the reverse current started to increase markedly at a bias of ~ 400 mV for TDJ, and at ∼ 550 mV for IJ. The ideality factor n was about 1.5 -2 for both diode types at 80 K.
2The analysis of the C-V plots shows that the junctions in both diode types are linearly graded. The analysis of the C-V plots allows also determining the height of the junction barrier, the concentrations and the concentration gradient of the impurities, and the temperature dependence of the static dielectric constant.The zero-bias-resistance×area products (R 0 A e ) at 80 K are: 850 Ω⋅cm 2 for TDJ,