Abstract:
The electronic properties and the limiting position of the Fermi level in $p$-GaSb crystals irradiated with full-spectrum reactor neutrons at up to a fluence of 8.6 $\times$ 10$^{18}$ cm$^{-2}$ are studied. It is shown that the irradiation of GaSb with reactor neutrons results in an increase in the concentration of free holes to $p_{\mathrm{lim}}$ = (5–6) $\times$ 10$^{18}$ cm$^{-3}$ and in pinning of the Fermi level at the limiting position $F_{\mathrm{lim}}$ close to $E_{\mathrm{V}}$ + 0.02 eV at 300 K. The effect of the annealing of radiation defects in the temperature range 100–550$^\circ$C is explored.