Surface Quantum-Dimensional Photocarrier Recombination in <i>CdTe</i> Microcrystals

Abstract

The scope of the study is the spectra of low-temperature (T = 2K) photoluminescence of a p-CdTe/n-CdS film heterostructure comprising a monolayer of CdTe microcrystals, where a single microcrystalline particle is typically one micron in size. Focus is made on the dominant band of “super-hot” emission appearing in the spectral region located in energy above the fundamental absorption edge of a CdTe bulk crystal. A theoretical model has been developed that assumes the existence of a space-charge layer inside a microcrystal, which leads to the formation of a triangular potential well for an electron near the surface. The anomalous emission band arises as a result of the optical transitions of electrons from near-surface levels of spatial quantization to valence band states.