Investigation of localized levels in GaS_0.5Se_0.5 layered crystals by means of electrical, space-charge limited current and photoconductivity measurements

Abstract

To identify the localized levels in GaS0.5Se0.5 single crystals, the dark electrical conductivity, current-voltage characteristics and photoconductivity measurements were carried out in the temperature range of 250-400 K. Temperature dependence of dark electrical conductivity and the space-charge limited current studies indicate the presence of a single discrete trapping level located at 0.31 eV below the conduction band with a density of about 1.3 x 10(15) cm(-3). The conductivity data above 320 K reveal an additional donor level with activation energy of 0.40 eV indicating the extrinsic nature of conduction. The spectral distribution of photocurrent in the photon energy range of 0.65-5.9 eV reveals an indirect band gap of 2.26 eV. The photocurrent-illumination intensity dependence follows the law I-ph proportional to F-gamma, with gamma being 1.0, 0.65, and 0.5 at low, moderate and high illumination intensities, respectively. The corresponding behavior indicates the domination of monomolecular recombination, near equal densities of trapped and recombination centers and bimolecular recombination. It is observed that the photocurrent increases in the temperature range from 250 K up to T-m = 360 K and decreases for T > T-m. The temperature dependence of the photocurrent reveals two additional impurity levels with activation energies of 0.14 and 0.10 eV below and above Tm, respectively.