Annealing conditions for intrinsic CdTe

Abstract

Equilibrium native defect densities in CdTe are calculated from ab initio methods, and compared with experimental results. We find that CdTe is highly compensated p type under tellurium-saturated conditions, with the cadmium vacancy as the dominant acceptor and the tellurium antisite as the compensating donor. This finding is in agreement with recent experiments that find a much larger deviation from stoichiometry than would be predicted by the electrically active defects. Under cadmium-saturated conditions, cadmium interstitials are predicted to dominate and the material is found to be n type. Native defect concentrations and the corresponding carrier concentrations are predicted as a function of processing conditions, and can serve as a guide to postgrowth anneals to manipulate the conductivity of undoped material for applications in x- and γ-ray spectrometers. Furthermore, we show that by choosing appropriate annealing conditions and extrinsic dopants, one can increase the operating efficiency of nuclear spectrometers by reducing the density of specific native defects that produce midgap trapping states.