Kinetics of activation of group V impurities in Hg1-xCdxTe alloys

A kinetic model is developed for the activation of group V impurities in Hg 1xCdxTe alloys as acceptors. The model assumes that mercury interstitials a re introduced at the surface and diffuse into the alloy. There, they displa ce group V impurities residing on the metal sublattice and place them on th e tellurium sublattice, generating tellurium interstitials. These tellurium interstitials then diffuse back to the top surface, or to climbing disloca tions. The rate-controlling process is the out-diffusion of the tellurium i nterstitials. A key finding is that the conversion rate is inversely propor tional to the impurity concentration. The model is found to be in good agre ement with published data for the activation of arsenic. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)04110-4].