Effects of Low-Temperature Electron Irradiation on the Electrical Properties of Undoped GaSb

Undoped GaSb was irradiated with 1.0-MeV electrons near liquid-helium temperature and at {≈}80^∘{}K. The effect on the Hall coefficient and the electrical resistivity was measured between 15 and 300^∘{}K. "Impurity" conduction, resulting from radiation-produced defects, was observed at low temperatures. At higher temperatures, where the normal conduction mechanism is predominant, the experimental data are consistent with a model characterized by radiation-produced acceptors with levels 0.023 eV above the top of the valence band and completely ionized radiation-produced donors. Isochronal and isothermal annealing studies were performed in the temperature range 15 to 440^∘{}K. No recovery was observed below 110^∘{}K. Major recovery stages were found near 122, 163, 203, and 365^∘{}K. Their activation energies were measured as 0.31±{}0.02, 0.48±{}0.03, 0.57±{}0.03, and 1.0±{}0.1 eV, respectively. The recovery near 122^∘{}K obeyed first-order kinetics. No simple recovery kinetics were found for the other stages.