Self-compensation in arsenic doping of CdTe
Abstract
Efficient p-type doping in CdTe has remained a critical challenge for decades, limiting the performance of CdTe-based semiconductor devices. Arsenic is a promising p-type dopant; however, reproducible doping with high concentration is difficult and carrier lifetime is low. We systematically studied defect structures in As-doped CdTe using high-purity single crystal wafers to investigate the mechanisms that limit p-type doping. Two As-doped CdTe with varying acceptor density and two undoped CdTe were grown in Cd-rich and Te-rich environments. The defect structures were investigated by thermoelectric-effect spectroscopy (TEES), and first-principles calculations were used for identifying and assigning the experimentally observed defects. Measurements revealed activation of As is very low in both As-doped samples with very short lifetimes indicating strong compensation and the presence of significant carrier trapping defects. Defect studies suggest two acceptors and one donor level were introduced by As doping with activation energies at ~88 meV, ~293 meV and ~377 meV. In particular, the peak shown at ~162 K in the TEES spectra is very prominent in both As-doped samples, indicating a signature of AX-center donors. In conclusion, the AX-centers are believed to be responsible for most of the compensation because of their low formation energy and very prominent peakmore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2]
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)
- Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)
- Soochow Univ., Suzhou (China)
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Beijing (China)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1372626
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-5K00-68633
Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Scientific Reports
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 7; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; doping; CdTe; compensation; arsenic
Citation Formats
Ablekim, Tursun, Swain, Santosh K., Yin, Wan -Jian, Zaunbrecher, Katherine, Burst, James, Barnes, Teresa M., Kuciauskas, Darius, Wei, Su -Huai, and Lynn, Kelvin G. Self-compensation in arsenic doping of CdTe. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-04719-0.
Ablekim, Tursun, Swain, Santosh K., Yin, Wan -Jian, Zaunbrecher, Katherine, Burst, James, Barnes, Teresa M., Kuciauskas, Darius, Wei, Su -Huai, & Lynn, Kelvin G. Self-compensation in arsenic doping of CdTe. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-04719-0
Ablekim, Tursun, Swain, Santosh K., Yin, Wan -Jian, Zaunbrecher, Katherine, Burst, James, Barnes, Teresa M., Kuciauskas, Darius, Wei, Su -Huai, and Lynn, Kelvin G. Tue .
"Self-compensation in arsenic doping of CdTe". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-04719-0. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1372626.
@article{osti_1372626,
title = {Self-compensation in arsenic doping of CdTe},
author = {Ablekim, Tursun and Swain, Santosh K. and Yin, Wan -Jian and Zaunbrecher, Katherine and Burst, James and Barnes, Teresa M. and Kuciauskas, Darius and Wei, Su -Huai and Lynn, Kelvin G.},
abstractNote = {Efficient p-type doping in CdTe has remained a critical challenge for decades, limiting the performance of CdTe-based semiconductor devices. Arsenic is a promising p-type dopant; however, reproducible doping with high concentration is difficult and carrier lifetime is low. We systematically studied defect structures in As-doped CdTe using high-purity single crystal wafers to investigate the mechanisms that limit p-type doping. Two As-doped CdTe with varying acceptor density and two undoped CdTe were grown in Cd-rich and Te-rich environments. The defect structures were investigated by thermoelectric-effect spectroscopy (TEES), and first-principles calculations were used for identifying and assigning the experimentally observed defects. Measurements revealed activation of As is very low in both As-doped samples with very short lifetimes indicating strong compensation and the presence of significant carrier trapping defects. Defect studies suggest two acceptors and one donor level were introduced by As doping with activation energies at ~88 meV, ~293 meV and ~377 meV. In particular, the peak shown at ~162 K in the TEES spectra is very prominent in both As-doped samples, indicating a signature of AX-center donors. In conclusion, the AX-centers are believed to be responsible for most of the compensation because of their low formation energy and very prominent peak intensity in TEES spectra.},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-017-04719-0},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1372626},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
issn = {2045-2322},
number = 1,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {2017},
month = {7}
}
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