TYPE CONVERSION BY HIGH-ENERGY PARTICLES IN HG1-XCDXTE COMPOUNDS

p-type crystals of the ternary compounds Hg1-xCdxTe have been irradiated with high-energy ions and electrons. Electron-beam-induced current signals on xenon- and krypton-irradiated Hg1-xCd xTe show that n-type conversion, occurring all along the ion path, is related to the presence of mercury atoms. Resistivity and Hall measurements on carbon-, oxygen-, xenon- and electron-irradiated Hg0.8Cd 0.2Te crystals allow us to determine the effective cross section for atomic displacement. We observe, for electron-irradiated samples, a saturation in carrier concentration interpreted as the pinning of the Fermi level at a resonant donor state 370 meV above the bottom of the conduction band. Comparison between ion and electron irradiations shows that electrically active produced defects are mainly due to atomic collisions. Additional reduction of defect production efficiency for xenon ions may be the onset of some energy transfer from electronic loss to target atoms.