The Role of Intrinsic Defects for the Diffusion of Ag and Cu in CdTe

Abstract

Ag and Cu diffused into CdTe exhibit unusual shapes of their concentration profiles, especially if the diffusion was performed under Cd vapor pressure. The shapes of the concentration profiles at low concentrations of Ag or Cu are well described by a model based on the interaction with intrinsic defects. In that model the characteristic features of the profiles can be independently reproduced by appropriate parameters. It turns out that the resulting profiles are determined by the diffusion of interstitial Cd atoms and reflect the actual distribution of the intrinsic defects in the crystal, i.e. the deviation from stoichiometry.