Features of the mechanism of electrical conductivity of semiinsulating CdTe crystals

Temperature dependence of electrical characteristics of p-CdTe semi4nsulating single-crystals are studied, and substantial features of their electrical conductivity not described in available publications are revealed. The activation energy of the p-type conduction material close to the intrinsic one can be both lower and higher than the half-width of the band gap of semi conductor. The results of the analysis of statistics of electrons and holes based on the electroneutrality equation showed that the observed features of electrical properties of the material can be interpreted based on the specific features of compensation processes. The procedure of determining the ionization energy and degree of compensation of acceptors responsible for electrical conductivity of the material is suggested. It is shown that, in the limits of climatic temperature variations, inversion of the conduction type can be observed, and, as a consequence, the Schottky contact can disappear in the CdTe-based detector of the X-ay and γ radiation.