TL and TSC studies on TlGaSe2 layered single crystals

Abstract

Defects in – as grown – TlGaSe2 layered single crystals were investigated using Thermoluminescence (TL) and Thermally Stimulated Currents (TSC) techniques in the temperature range 10–300K. TL and TSC curves of samples illuminated using a light with energy greater than the band gap of the material, i.e. blue light (∼470nm) at 10K, exhibited peaks around 27 and 28K, respectively, when measured by heating up the samples at a rate of 1K/s. TL and TSC curves were analyzed to characterize the defects responsible for the peaks. Both TL and TSC peaks were observed to be obeying first order kinetics. Thermal activation energies of the peaks were determined using various methods: curve fitting, initial rise, peak shape and different heating rates. For both TL and TSC peaks, thermal activation energy was determined as around 8meV, implying that they may originate from similar kinds of trapping centers. A distribution of traps (in terms of energy) was experimentally verified by illuminating the sample at different temperatures and measuring the TL curves. As a result of this, the apparent thermal energies were observed to be shifted from ∼8 to ∼17meV by increasing the illumination temperature from 10 to 16K.