Study of silver and copper diffusion in p-type Hg0.3Cd0.7Te and CdTe by capacitance measurements

A procedure to determine the diffusion coefficients of metallic impurities in p-type semiconductors is presented. This method, which rests on the analysis of the capacitance transient curve C(t) at various temperatures has been applied to the study of copper and silver diffusion in p-type Hg0.3Cd0.7Te and CdTe crystals. The as-found diffusion coefficients are in good agreement with existing results. The large activation energy of the silver diffusion coefficient, at low temperature, might come from the formation of a donor–acceptor complex.