Dielectric studies of Cd1-x-yZnxMnyTe crystals

We report on the dielectric properties of Cd1-x-yZnxMnyTe alloys studied by capacitance and dissipation factor measurements at temperature 5 K <T < 47 5 K and frequency 20 Hz <f <1 MHz. A Debye-like relaxation of dielectric be havior has been observed, which is found to be a thermally activated proces s. The activation energies obtained from the capacitance and dissipation fa ctor measurements are in excellent agreement. By means of our measurements, it is believed that the dielectric character of the carrier hopping among structural defects is responsible for the observed Debye relaxation. The re lationship between the activation energy and Zn concentration has been esta blished. The results are described by the four-center model, in which the n umber of Zn atoms appearing in the nearest-neighbor sites of a defect can h ave four possible configurations. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.