Synthesis of ultra-high-purity CdTe ingots by the traveling heater method

Abstract

For telluride compounds, the presence of electrically active contaminants in the grown crystals is one of the critical factors that can severely limit the ensuing device performance. In order to minimize contamination from both precursor material handling and environmental sources during the compounding operation, a fully integrated traveling heater method (THM) CdTe synthesis process was developed. Based on glow discharge mass spectroscopy (GDMS) analysis, the average total impurity content, excluding carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, is in the order of 100 PPB atomic, with zinc being the major contaminant and accounting for more than 40 pct of this value.

Crystal Growth by Traveling Heater Method

“…CTHM was indeed developed for mass production of large diameter CdTe ingots [35]. This technique was shown to be extendable to ternary and even sometimes quaternary alloys.…”

Atomic spectrometry update. Industrial analysis: metals, chemicals and advanced materials

“…Audet and Cossette described the GD-MS analysis of ultra-pure cadmium telluride ingots prepared by the travelling heater method. 264 The presence of contaminants, even at ultra-low levels, in such samples can severely limit their performance. Hence, analytical techniques should be capable of determining as many analytes as possible at very low concentrations.…”

Non-stoichiometry of tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminium: is it possible?

“…These problems have been successfully solved earlier for inorganic semiconductors. 8 The non-stoichiometry phenomenon is well known for inorganic crystals. The crystal non-stoichiometry results from general thermodynamic laws at T > 0 K. 9 But in the case of organic crystals, the non-stoichiometry was not considered to be valid due to the molecular structure of organic crystals.…”