Electrical behaviour of HgCdTe/Si heterostructures

HgCdTe/Si heterostructures (HSs) were obtained by pulsed laser deposition ( PLD) on Si (p- or n-type) flat and patterned (pyramid-like and plate-like) substrate from p- or n-type HgCdTe target. The I-V characteristics of p-n a nd isotype HSs were investigated by the differential approach. This approac h is based on monitoring of differential slope alpha of the I-V characteris tics in log-log plot ( alpha = d 1 g I/d 1gV). Influence of the substrate k ind (flat, pyramid-like or plate-like), type of conductivity, type of HS (p -n or isotype) and substrate resistivity were studied. In all cases, the ma in feature of the I-V characteristics behaviour was alpha = 3/2. It means t hat the bimolecular recombination is the main recombination mechanism in al l HSs types. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.