AFM CHARACTERIZATION OF LASER INDUCED DAMAGE ON CDZNTE CRYSTAL SURFACES

Conference · Tue Jun 10 04:00:00 EDT 2008

OSTI ID:934525

Hawkins, S; Lucile Teague, L; Martine Duff, M; Eliel Villa-Aleman, E

Semi-conducting CdZnTe (or CZT) crystals can be used in a variety of detector-type applications. CZT shows great promise for use as a gamma radiation spectrometer. However, its performance is adversely affected by point defects, structural and compositional heterogeneities within the crystals, such as twinning, pipes, grain boundaries (polycrystallinity), secondary phases and in some cases, damage caused by external forces. One example is damage that occurs during characterization of the surface by a laser during Raman spectroscopy. Even minimal laser power can cause Te enriched areas on the surface to appear. The Raman spectra resulting from measurements at moderate intensity laser power show large increases in peak intensity that is attributed to Te. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) was used to characterize the extent of damage to the CZT crystal surface following exposure to the Raman laser. AFM data reveal localized surface damage in the areas exposed to the Raman laser beam. The degree of surface damage to the crystal is dependent on the laser power, with the most observable damage occurring at high laser power. Moreover, intensity increases in the Te peaks of the Raman spectra are observed even at low laser power with little to no visible damage observed by AFM. AFM results also suggest that exposure to the same amount of laser power yields different amounts of surface damage depending on whether the exposed surface is the Te terminating face or the Cd terminating face of CZT.

• Research Organization: SRS
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-96SR18500
• OSTI ID: 934525
• Report Number(s): WSRC-STI-2008-00301
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY
CADMIUM ALLOYS
DAMAGE
LASER RADIATION
RADIATION EFFECTS
RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY
SURFACE PROPERTIES
TELLURIUM ALLOYS
ZINC ALLOYS