Electrical activity of iodine-diffused CdTe

The electrical activity of iodine in CdTe is discussed when iodine is introduced into the CdTe by diffusion from the vapour phase. It is compared both with the total concentration of iodine in the diffused CdTe slices and with the electrical activity in CdTe slices which have been annealed under Cd- and Te-saturated vapour pressures. Iodine-diffused slices of CdTe were profiled by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) to obtain the total iodine concentration and by capacitance-voltage (C-V) techniques to obtain the net concentration of electrically active iodine. After annealing with iodine in the form of Cdl₂, the slices were p-type, similar to those obtained when CdTe was annealed in either excess Te or Cd vapour, and they showed no significant increase in electrical activity. If Cd was added to the Cdl₂ diffusion source or the CdTe was given a subsequent anneal in cadmium vapour, the slices became n-type. The results indicated that in all cases a neutral layer composed of Cd _nI_m (m and n are integers) formed on the surface layers, whereas if Cd was involved in the diffusion, some of the iodine existed in an electrically active form deeper into the slice with a maximum concentration of active carriers given by N_D - N_A ≈ 10¹⁷ cm⁻³. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.