CdxTe薄膜的共蒸发法制备及其表征

采用CdTe和Te双源共蒸发的方法, 调控CdTe和Te源的蒸发速率, 首次制备出一系列不同x组分的Cd_xTe二元化合物薄膜, 并在N₂气气氛下进行185℃退火处理。通过XRD、SEM、紫外-可见吸收光谱分析及暗电导率-温度关系对Cd_xTe薄膜的结构、形貌、光学和电学性质进行表征。紫外-可见吸收光谱分析表明, 不同x组分的Cd_xTe薄膜, 其禁带宽度可在0.99~1.46 eV之间变化, 随着x值从0.8减小到0.2, 吸收边向长波方向移动, 而且透过率也显著下降。XRD结果表明, x值小于0.6时, 刚沉积的Cd_xTe薄膜为非晶相; 随着x的值逐渐靠近1, 刚沉积的薄膜明显结晶, 沿CdTe(111)方向择优生长, 退火处理促使薄膜从非晶转变为多晶。Cd_xTe薄膜的导电类型为p型, 其暗电导率随温度的上升而增大, 当温度继续升高至临界点时, 薄膜暗电导率-温度关系出现反常。这些结果表明, Cd_xTe薄膜将有望用于CdTe薄膜太阳电池以拓展电池的长波光谱响应。     

Application of II-VI materials to nuclear medicine

Semiconductor gamma-ray detector arrays made of II-VI materials such as CdTe or CdZnTe hold great promise for improving the spatial resolution and energy resolution of nuclear medicine imaging systems. This field has benefited greatly from technologies developed in infrared imaging. This report surveys the state of the art for producing high-resolution semiconductor arrays with emphasis on II-VI materials and considers the prospects for producing a semiconductor detector gamma camera. A number of practical designs are reviewed that make use of single-charge-carrier dominance effects to improve useful photopeak fraction and thus efficiency.     

Growth of high quality CdTe on Si substrates by molecular beam epitaxy

We have systematically studied the growth of CdTe (lll)B on Si(001)with different atomic step structures, defined uniquely by miscut tilt angle and direction. X-ray double crystal rocking curve (DCRC) analysis has been used to evaluate the crystalline quality and twin content of the films. High-resolution electron microscopy has been used to examine the CdTe(lll)B/Si(001) interface and to follow the microstructural evolution as a function of distance from the interface. Our results show that the formation of double domains and twins is very sensitive to the tilt parameters. When growth conditions are optimized, twins are not observed at distances greater than about 2.5 microns from the substrate surface. The best quality films exhibit a DCRC FWHM of 60 arc sec, for a film thickness of 17 μm, the lowest value ever reported for heteroepitaxial growth of CdTe on Si or GaAs. In efforts to improve the nucleation process, precursors such as Te and As have been used, and we have shown that they improve the stability of the heterointerface.     

电沉积CdTe半导体薄膜中Cd和Te含量的极谱分析

用极谱法分析电沉积 CdTe 半导体薄膜中 Cd 和 Te 的含量随电沉积电位、沉积温度和热处理温度的变化,获得 Cd 和 Te 原子数之比几乎为1∶1的 CdTe 薄膜。热处理能改变 CdTe 薄膜的导电类型。     

Intrinsic defect complexes in CdTe and ZnTe

Radiation defects in CdTe and ZnTe are modeled from first principles. The most important intrinsic defects resulting from cation evaporation or displacement are cation vacancies and tellurium anti-sites, electrically active defects characterized by a low formation energy. The reactions between those two defects are investigated. Since cation vacancy clusters of less than four vacancies are not stable, it is argued that cation vacancy aggregation is not a dominant process in near-equilibrium conditions. In-grown or radiation-induced clusters of four cation vacancies may serve as a nucleation center for tellurium precipitation. The formation energy of these small voids is lower in ZnTe than in CdTe. Additionally, cation-anion divacancies are stable in ZnTe and in p-type CdTe.     

Growth of thick CdTe epilayers on GaAs substrates and evaluation of CdTe/n<Superscript>+</Superscript>-GaAs heterojunction diodes for an X-ray imaging detector

The growth characteristics of thick (100) CdTe epitaxial layers of a thickness up to 200 μm on a (100) GaAs substrate in a metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE) system and fabrication of CdTe/n⁺-GaAs heterojunction diodes for their possible applications in low-energy x-ray imaging detectors are reported. The grown epilayers were of high structural quality as revealed from the x-ray double-crystal rocking curve (DCRC) analysis, where the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) values of the (400) diffraction peaks was between 50 arcsec and 70 arcsec. The 4.2-K photoluminescence (PL) showed high-intensity bound-excitonic emission and very small defect-related peaks. The heterojunction diode fabricated had a good rectification property with a low value of reverse-bias current. The x-ray detection capability of the diode was examined by the time-of-flight (TOF) measurement, where good bias-dependent photoresponse was observed, but no carrier transport property could be deduced. It was found that the CdTe layer has a large number of trapping states as attributed to the cadmium-related vacancy and Ga-impurity, diffused from the substrate, related defect complexes.     

Effects of a-Si:H resist vacuum-lithography processing on HgCdTe

A vacuum-compatible process for carrying out lithography on Hg_1−xCd_xTe and CdTe films was previously demonstrated. It was shown that hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) could be used as a dry resist by projecting a pattern onto its surface using excimer laser irradiation and then developing that pattern by hydrogen plasma etching. Pattern transfer to an underlying Hg_1−xCd_xTe film was then carried out via Ar/H₂ plasma etching in an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) reactor. Despite the successful demonstration of pattern transfer, the possibility of inducing harmful effects in the Hg_1−xCd_xTe film due to this vacuum lithography procedure had not been explored. Here we present structural and surface compositional analyses of Hg_1−xCd_xTe films at key stages of the a-Si:H vacuum lithography procedure. X-ray diffraction double crystal rocking curves taken before and after a-Si:H deposition and after development etching were identical, indicating that bulk structural changes in the Hg_1−xCd_xTe film are not induced by these processes. Cross-section transmission electron microscopy studies show that laser-induced heating in the 350 nm thick a-Si:H overlayer is not sufficient to cause structural damage in the underlying Hg_1−xCd_xTe surface. In vacuo surface analysis via Auger electron spectroscopy and ion scattering spectroscopy suggest that the hydrogen plasma development process produces Hg-deficient surfaces but does not introduce C contamination. However, after ECR plasma etching into the Hg_1−xCd_xTe film, the measured x value is much closer to that of the bulk.     

Growth of CdTe Films on Amorphous Substrates Using CaF<Subscript>2</Subscript> Nanorods as a Buffer Layer

Continuous biaxially textured CdTe films were grown on biaxial CaF₂ buffer layers. The CaF₂ nanorods were grown by oblique angle vapor deposition and possessed a {111} 〈121〉 biaxial texture. The CdTe film was deposited by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Film morphology and the CdTe/CaF₂ interface were studied by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Characterization showed that small CdTe grains formed initially from the CaF₂ surfaces. These small grains then merged into large columnar grains during growth. Analysis revealed that the crystalline orientation of the CdTe film followed the biaxial texture of the CaF₂ nanorods.     

Growth condition of iodine-doped n+-CdTe layers in metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy

Iodine doping of CdTe layers grown on (100) GaAs by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) was studied using diethyltelluride (DETe) and diisopropyltelluride (DiPTe) as tellurium precursors and ethyliodine (EI) as a dopant. Electron densities of doped layers increased gradually with decreasing the growth temperature from 425°C to 325°C. Doped layers grown with DETe had higher electron densities than those grown with DiPTe. When the hot-wall temperature was increased from 200°C to 250°C at the growth temperature of 325°C, doped layers grown with DETe showed an increase of the electron density from 3.7×10¹⁶ cm⁻³ to 2.6×10¹⁸ cm⁻³. On the other hand, such an increase of the electron density was not observed for layers grown with DiPTe. The mechanisms for different doping properties for DETe and DiPTe were studied on the basis of the growth characteristics for these precursors. Higher thermal stability of DETe than that of DiPTe was considered to cause the difference of doping properties. With increasing the hot-wall temperature from 200°C to 250°C, the effective ratio of Cd to Te species on the growth surface became larger for layers grown with DETe than those grown with DiPTe. This was considered to decrease the compensation of doped iodine and to increase the electron density of layers grown with DETe. The effective ratio of Cd to Te species on the growth surface also increased with decreasing growth temperature. This was considered to increase the electron density with decreasing growth temperature.     

Thermoelectric Effect Spectroscopy and Photoluminescence of High-Resistivity CdTe:In

Thermoelectric effect spectroscopy and photoluminescence techniques were used to study the defect levels in samples from three crystals of CdTe:In grown by the vertical gradient freeze method. The main goal of the investigation was to study defects, which strongly trap charge carriers or act as recombination centers in order to eliminate them from the technological process. The main difference among detecting and non-detecting samples was the absence of electron traps with a very high capture cross-section and energy 0.6 eV to 0.7 eV, which act as lifetime killers even at low concentrations. Recently published ab initio calculations show a complex of Te antisite and Cd vacancy within this energy range.