Hydrogen passivation in Cd1−xZnxTe studied by photoluminescence

It is shown for the first time that deep defects in single-crystal CdZnTe can be passivated by atomic hydrogen. This treatment can result in a strong enhancement in the photoluminescence intensity of all excitonic transitions. In addition, it is shown that after hydrogenation, the higher-order emission of free exciton in CdZnTe alloys is observed for the first time; the mixed bands can be separated; the LO phonon energy, the binding energy of free exciton, and the concentration of Zn content are also determined. From the experimental results it is inferred that hydrogenation not only improves the sample quality but also provides an excellent opportunity to probe the physical properties of a material.