A Study of Bismuth Induced Levels in CZT Using TEES/TSC

Abstract

AbstractConsidering the desirable effects of doping CdTe with heavy elements like Bi, we have grown a Cadmium Zinc Telluride (Zn=10%) ingot with Bi (doping levels ∼1014 to 1015 at/cm3) as the heavy element dopant for use as a room temperature radiation detector, using the Bridgman method. In-spite of a high bulk resitivity (∼1010?cm), and the ability to hold high electric field (>2000 V/cm), these lightly doped crystals had a poor spectral resolution for the Co-57 photo peaks and ??e measurements were so low that these measurement were not reliable. Thermo electric effect spectroscopy (TEES) and thermally stimulated current (TSC) experiments on samples C and F (single crystals close to the tip and the heel of the ingot respectively) have revealed various defect levels in the band gap. Among these defect levels, we have identified and characterized two Bi-related deep levels namely a deep donor level L5 (thermal ionization energy: 0.33[5] to 0.39[5] eV and trap cross-section: 7.1[5] × 10-17 to 2.54 [5] × 10-16 cm2), and a deep acceptor level L8 (thermal ionization energy of 0.82 [5] eV and trap cross-section of 2.59 [5] × 10-12 cm2). These levels were responsible for the observed high electrical resistivity (∼1010 ?*cm) in the CdZnTe samples. From a comparison to studies on Bi doped CdTe samples, level L8 was tentatively associated with the (0/-) transition of (BiCd- - OTe) complex, however is still under study. Since these defect levels also act as trapping centers for charge carriers, in spite of the semi-insulating behavior the samples are poor radiation detectors.