Structure and Electrical Conductivity of Amorphous ZnTe and CdTe

Amorphous films of ZnTe and CdTe have been prepared and studied. Electron microscope studies have shown the films to have crystallite diameters of about 25 Å. A radial distribution analysis of the electron diffraction data for ZnTe shows that the first and second nearest neighbor distances are the same as in the bulk crystal and they are consistent with the basic crystalline tetrahedral units being retained in the amorphous phase.The electrical conductivity of ZnTe films has a temperature dependence which varies with the annealing temperature. This is explained by assuming that the extrinsic range is caused by acceptor-like dangling bonds which anneal at lower temperatures (100 °C), but that at higher temperature anneals (400 °C) the film re-crystallizes.