First-principles study of DX centers in CdTe, ZnTe, and CdxZn1-xTe alloys

Search for the Major Chlorine-Related Defects in CdTe:Cl

Understanding the effect of chlorine-related defects on the CdTe electric properties is important both for obtaining high resistivity CdTe-based detectors and for high efficiency CdTe-based thin-film solar cells. The actual mechanism of the effect of Cl on electric properties of CdTe is not clear and different sometimes contradictory hypotheses appear. For example ClTeVCd shallow acceptor complex defect was proposed both as a reason of increased carrier concentration in CdTe thin film and also as a reason of high resistivity of CdTe:Cl thin films. In the present work we are trying to clarify the effect of Cl on CdTe electric properties and to find the reason of high resistivity of CdTe:Cl crystals using first principles calculations and defect chemistry modeling. For the first time we are trying to develop a model capable to describe experimental data on both high temperature and room temperature conductivity of CdTe:Cl.

Local and electronic structure around Ga in CdTe: evidence of DX- and A-centers

The lattice relaxation around Ga in CdTe is investigated by means of extended X-ray absorption spectroscopy (EXAFS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations using the linear augmented plane waves plus local orbitals (LAPW+lo) method. In addition to the substitutional position, the calculations are performed for DX- and A-centers of Ga in CdTe. The results of the calculations are in good agreement with the experimental data, as obtained from EXAFS and X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES). They allow the experimental identification of several defect structures in CdTe. In particular, direct experimental evidence for the existence of DX-centers in CdTe is provided, and for the first time the local bond lengths of this defect are measured directly.

Experimental evidence of the role of compound counting processes in random walk approaches to fractional dynamics

We present dielectric spectroscopy data obtained for gallium-doped Cd(0.99)Mn(0.01)Te:Ga mixed crystals, which exhibit a very special case of the two-power-law relaxation pattern with the high-frequency power-law exponent equal to 1. We explain this behavior, which cannot be fitted by any of the well-known empirical relaxation functions, in a subordinated diffusive framework. We propose a diffusion scenario based on a renormalized clustering of a random number of spatio-temporal steps in the continuous-time random walk. Such a construction substitutes the renewal counting process, which is used in the classical continuous time random walk methodology, with a compound counting one. As a result, we obtain an appropriate relaxation function governing the observed nonstandard pattern, and we show the importance of the compound counting processes in studying fractional dynamics of complex systems.

Stability of the DX- center in GaAs quantum dots

Using a first-principles band structure method, we study how the size of quantum dots affects the stability and transition energy levels of defects in GaAs. We show that, although a negatively charged DX- center is unstable in bulk GaAs:Si with respect to the tetrahedral coordinated Si(-)(Ga), it becomes stable when the dot size is small enough. The critical size of the dot is about 14.5 nm in diameter. The reason for the stabilization is the strong quantum-confinement effect, which increases the formation energy of Si(-)(Ga) more than that of the DX- defect center. Our studies show that defect properties in quantum dots could be significantly different from those in bulk semiconductors.

Density functional theory calculations establish the experimental evidence of the DX center atomic structure in CdTe

The In DX center and the DX-like configuration of the Cd host atom in CdTe are investigated using density functional theory. The simultaneous calculation of the atomic structure and the electric field gradient (EFG) allows one to correlate the theoretically predicted structure of the DX center with an experimental observable, namely, the EFG obtained from radioactive 111In/111Cd probe atoms in In doped CdTe. In this way, the experimental identification of the DX center structure is established.