Quantitative method of the point defect concentration determination in Zn‐ and Cd‐doped HgTe using the far‐infrared spectroscopy

Our research is motivated in the first line by the necessity to have the total control of the vacancies which appear during the growth of mercury telluride crystals. As it is known, this material is very important for the IR devices. We present a non-destructive method for quantitative determining the vacancy concentration in the lattice of Hg-based semiconductor alloys with tetrahedral structure. The method is based on the identification of additional vibrational modes (AVM) induced by lattice deformations in the far infrared (FIR) reflectivity spectrum. Although the method is restricted by sensitivity limitations, recent FIR experimental data carried out on HgZnTe and HgCdTe samples containing Hg-vacancies confirmed the presence of AVMs induced by Hg-vacancies in as-grown crystals. (© 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)