Electron transport in arsenic triselenide single crystals

Measurements are reported of the electron drift mobility and the DC electrical conductivity of crystalline arsenic triselenide, the data being obtained for the (010) direction. In the room-temperature regime, the electron drift mobility is in the range 20-80 cm 2 V -1 s -1 , and shows little dependence on temperature. However, at lower temperature it becomes thermally activated. The complete data are well described by a model in which free carriers in the conduction band are in thermal equilibrium with a set of trapping centres of depth 0.17 eV and density 10 14 -10 15 cm 3 . In the low-temperature regime, the mobility increases with electric field, suggesting a field-dependent trap release probability.