Investigation of swift heavy ion irradiation effects in CdTe crystals

Abstract

CdTe crystals grown by the Bridgman technique were irradiated by swift heavy ions (SHIs), 100 MeV Ag7+ ions, with fluences varying from 1011 to 1014 ions cm−2 and the damage is investigated by atomic force microscopy, x-ray diffraction, hall effect measurements and photoluminence. It is found that the behaviour of CdTe crystals under a SHI irradiation induces structural disorder, generation of optically active defects, decrease in the electron mobility but an increase in the carrier concentration compared with as-grown samples. The observed effects are mainly due to the intense electronic excitation created by SHIs.