Electrical properties of point defects in cadmium zinc telluride

Abstract

Cadmium zinc telluride, CdZnTe or CZT, is presently the best candidate for radiation detectors since it can operate at room temperature and in hostile environment. In recent years, advancements of the crystal growth methods and subsequent processes, as for example thermal treatments, have led to an increasing quality of the material. However, the major obstacle to optimize detectors' performance still consists in the defects, both grown-in and processing-induced, which seem to be inevitably present. In this contribution, we present the state-of-the-art of the knowledge on the electrical properties of defects in Cd(1−x)ZnxTe with zinc content x=0.1–0.2, focusing on point defects due to intrinsic defects or their complexes.