Effect of annealing on the residual stress and strain distribution in CdZnTe wafers

The effect of annealing on residual stress and strain distribution in CdZnTe wafers was studied based using an X-ray diffraction (XRD) method. The results proved the effectiveness of annealing on the reduction of the residual stress and strain. By the means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and infrared (IR) transmission analyses, it was found that dislocation gliding, decreases in the size of the Te precipitates, dispersing of Te precipitates, composition homogenization, and point defects recombination contributed to a reduction of the residual stress and strain during annealing of the wafer. Additionally, the larger residual stress in CdZnTe wafers introduced bigger lattice misfits. Thus, for more the residual stress and strain in the CdZnTe wafer, the IR transmission will be lowered.