THERMOLUMINESCENCE STUDY OF SEMICONDUCTOR-MATERIALS SIXTE60-XAS30GE10

The effect of gamma irradiation on SixTe60-xAs30Ge10, where x = 5, 12 and 20, has been studied using thermoluminescence (TL). As expected in semiconductor materials, both x = 5 and 20 chalcogenides showed a wide TL peak ranging from approximately 80-300-degrees-C. However, these two materials also exhibited a sharp peak at approximately 360 and approximately 380-degrees-C for x = 5 and 20, respectively. On the other hand, the material with x = 12 showed very little response to gamma radiation, but if the sample was exposed to ultraviolet light (after being glowed of any TL up to 500-degrees-C) and then glowed (called phototransfer-thermoluminescence), several peaks appeared at approximately 80, 180, 300, and 350-degrees-C. The x = 5 and 20 samples did not show any response to ultraviolet light. Because the TL response depended on the ratio of Te/Si, it can be concluded that the TL technique can also be used to characterize semiconductor materials, and it would complement other techniques such as electrical conductivity and differential thermal analysis.