Thermally stimulated currents and instabilities of the photoresponse in PbTe(In) alloys at low temperatures

Abstract

The photoelectric properties of Pb1−X−YSnXGeYTe(In) epitaxial films (0.06<X<0.2, 0.08<Y<0.12) with In concentrations of 0.5–1 at.% on BaF2 substrates are investigated in the temperature range 4.2 K<T<30 K. Thermally stimulated single current (TSC) peaks are observed at T∼6–14 K. It is established that a magnetic field up to 5 T slightly shifts the peaks essentially without affecting their profile. The TSC peaks and the electrothermal instabilities observed at T<15 K are attributed to the excitation of electrons from metastable states into the conduction band.