Charge Transport and Observation of Persistent Photoconductivity in Tl6SeI4 Single Crystals

Sanjib Das, John A. Peters, Wenwen Lin, Svetlana S. Kostina, Pice Chen, Joon Il Kim, Mercouri G. Kanatzidis, Bruce W. Wessels*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

The chalcohalide compound Tl6SeI4 is a promising wide-bandgap semiconductor for efficient hard radiation detection at room temperature due to its high density, average atomic number and mobility-lifetime product. However, the nature of its charge transport kinetics, especially the role of defects in recombination, has not been examined in detail. To determine the charge transport kinetics in Tl6SeI4 single crystals, electrical conductivity and photoinduced current transient spectroscopy were measured over the temperature range 105-330 K. These measurements reveal the existence of multiple defect states with energy levels in the range 0.10-0.90 eV, within the bandgap of Tl6SeI4. Large persistent photoconductivity (PPC) is observed at low temperature that shows strong thermal quenching at 160 K. The quenching of PPC is described using a configuration coordinate model involving a deep level donor state, which is tentatively attributed to the presence of iodine vacancies or Si interstitial impurities.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1538-1544
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Volume8
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 6 2017

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Materials Science(all)
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

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