Amphoteric properties of gold in zinc selenide

Hall effect, electric conductivity, and charge carriers mobility in n-ZnSe single crystals doped with gold during the process of a long-term high-temperature annealing in Zn+Au melt with various Au contents were investigated in the temperature range from 77 to 300 K. It has been established that, at low gold concentration, Au atoms form mainly donor-type interstitial Aui defects. The increase of Au concentration in Zn+Au melt leads to the formation of both simple AuZn defects and associative acceptors (AuZn-Aui), (AuZn-DZn), and (AuZn-VSe). These defects determine electrical properties of the crystals and they are responsible for the complex structure of excitonic and impurity radiation spectra. The influence of dopant concentration on both electrical and luminescent properties of n-ZnSe:Zn:Au crystals is investigated. The observed variations of electrical and luminescent properties are due to amphoteric properties of gold impurity in zinc selenide.