Defect complexes formed with Ag atoms in CDTE, ZnTe, and ZnSe

Using the radioactive acceptor $^{111}\!$Ag for perturbed $\gamma$-$\gamma$-angular correlation (PAC) spectroscopy for the first time, defect complexes formed with Ag are investigated in the II-VI semiconductors CdTe, ZnTe and ZnSe. The donors In, Br and the Te-vacancy were found to passivate Ag acceptors in CdTe via pair formation, which was also observed in In-doped ZnTe. In undoped or Sb-doped CdTe and in undoped ZnSe, the PAC experiments indicate the compensation of Ag acceptors by the formation of double broken bond centres, which are characterised by an electric field gradient with an asymmetry parameter close to h = 1. Additionally, a very large electric field gradient was observed in CdTe, which is possibly connected with residual impurities

Identification of Ag-acceptors in 111 ⁣^{111}\!Ag 111 ⁣^{111}\!Cd doped ZnTe and CdTe

Nominally undoped ZnTe and CdTe crystals were implanted with radioactive $^{111}\!$Ag, which decays to $^{111}\!$Cd, and investigated by photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). In ZnTe, the PL lines caused by an acceptor level at 121 meV are observed: the principal bound exciton (PBE) line, the donor-acceptor pair (DAP) band, and the two-hole transition lines. In CdTe, the PBE line and the DAP band that correspond to an acceptor level at 108 meV appear. Since the intensities of all these PL lines decrease in good agreement with the half-life of $^{111}\!$Ag of 178.8 h, both acceptor levels are concluded to be associated with defects containing a single Ag atom. Therefore, the earlier assignments to substitutional Ag on Zn- and Cd-lattice sites in the respective II-VI semiconductors are confirmed. The assignments in the literature of the S$_1$, S$_2$, and S$_3$ lines in ZnTe and the X$\scriptstyle^\textrm{Ag}_{1}\,\,,$ X$\scriptstyle^\textrm{Ag}_{2}$/ C$\scriptstyle^\textrm{Ag}_{1}\,$ and C$\scriptstyle^\textrm{Ag}_{2}\,$ lines in CdTe to Ag-related defect complexes are not confirmed

Luminescence and influence of defect concentration on excitons in 197 ⁣^{197}\!Hg / 197 ⁣^{197}\!Au-doped CdTe

CdTe, implanted with $^{197}\!$Hg ions, which decay to $^{197}\!$Au with a half-life of 64.1 h, was investigated by photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The results unambiguously verify the assignments of both, the donor–acceptor pair transition at 1.335 eV, which corresponds to an acceptor level with E$\scriptstyle_{A}$=263 meV, and the recombination of excitons bound to neutral acceptors at 1.57606 eV to single Au atoms on Cd sites. In addition, the dependence of the intensities of excitonic lines on the defect concentration was investigated quantitatively. The observed intensities are well explained, assuming that a defect can only bind an exciton if there is no additional defect within the volume of the bound exciton. The ratio between the exciton radii of the Cu and Au-bound excitons R$\scriptscriptstyle^\textrm{Cu}_{exc}$ / R$\scriptscriptstyle^\textrm{Au}_{exc}$ = 1.2$\pm$0.2 obtained from this model is in good agreement with the ratio derived from the diamagnetic shift parameters of the two corresponding PL lines