Impurity gettering effect of Te inclusions in CdZnTe single crystals

The local impurity distribution in Te inclusions of CdZnTe (CZT) crystal was investigated by the time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (Tof-SIMS) technique. Direct evidence of impurity gettering in Te inclusions has been observed for the first time. The impurity gettering in Te inclusions originated from the diffusion mechanism during crystal growth and segregation mechanism during crystal cooling. This phenomenon is meaningful, because it reveals how Te inclusions affect CZT properties and provides a possible approach to reduce the impurities in CZT by the way of removing Te inclusions.