Electrical and optical investigation on doping of II–VI compounds using radioactive isotopes

Abstract

Using radioactive isotopes of shallow dopants (Ag, As, Rb) as well as of native or isoelectronic elements (Se, Te, Cd, Sr) which were incorporated as host atoms and then transmuted into relevant dopants (transmutation doping) we investigated doping phenomena occurring in the wide band gap II–VI compounds CdTe, ZnTe, ZnSe and SrS by the classical methods of semiconductor physics: Hall effect, C–V and photoluminescence measurements. Thus, we could assign unambiguously defect features in electrical and photoluminescence measurements to extrinsic dopants by means of the half lives of radioactive decay. In As doped ZnSe samples we observed two states: a metastable effective mass like state and a deep state. The occurrence of the latter state is always linked with the high resistivity of As doped ZnSe crystals. The transmutation doping experiments reveal that the so-called self-compensation typical for wide band gab II–VI compounds can be overcome when the thermal treatment for dopant incorporation is time separated from its electrical activation, achieved using transmutation at room temperature. Under these conditions we found an almost one-to-one doping efficiency relative to the implanted dose. Thus, these investigations are a contribution to understanding compensation phenomena occurring due to interactions between dopants and native defects during conventional doping treatments.