Abstract:
The conductivity, morphology, and deep levels in polycrystalline CdTe are studied. Undoped $p$-CdTe is grown from the vapor phase by low-temperature methods of direct Cd and Te chemical reaction and CdTe vacuum sublimation at $P_{\mathrm{min}}$. Chlorine-doped CdTe is also grown. The resistivity of the grown samples is $\sim$ 10$^5$–10$^9$$\Omega$ cm. After annealing in liquid cadmium or in cadmium vapor at $\sim$ 500$^\circ$C, the conductivity type changes, the free-carrier concentration in the undoped and doped samples increases to 4 $\times$ 10$^{15}$ and $\sim$ 2 $\times$ 10$^{16}$ cm$^{-3}$, respectively. For all samples, a defect ground level of $\sim$ 0.84 eV and continuous background are observed in DLTS spectra after annealing. A correlation between the primary-defect and free-carrier concentrations in undoped and doped CdTe is observed. Chlorine is a main residual impurity in the undoped samples. It is assumed that the defect is a complex including chlorine and observed structural defects in CdTe.