Charge Mobility and Recombination Mechanisms in Tellurium van der Waals Solid

Journal article (2019)

Authors

P. Bhaskar ChemE/Opto-electronic Materials - AS
A.W. Achtstein ChemE/Opto-electronic Materials - AS
M.J.W. Vermeulen ChemE/O&O groep - AS
L.D.A. Siebbeles ChemE/Opto-electronic Materials - AS
Research Group
ChemE/Opto-electronic Materials (AS) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2019 P. Bhaskar, A.W. Achtstein, M.J.W. Vermeulen, L.D.A. Siebbeles
DOI
help_outline
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.8b09665
More Info
expand_more

Published Date

2019

Language

English

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Faculty

Applied Sciences

Department

ChemE/Chemical Engineering

Research Group

ChemE/Opto-electronic Materials

Abstract

Trigonal tellurium is a small band gap elemental semiconductor consisting of van der Waals bound one-dimensional helical chains of tellurium atoms. We study the temperature dependence of the charge carrier mobility and recombination pathways in bulk tellurium. Electrons and holes are generated by irradiation of the sample with 3 MeV electrons and detected by time-resolved microwave conductivity measurements. A theoretical model is used to explain the experimental observations for different charge densities and temperatures. Our analysis reveals a high room temperature mobility of 190 ± 20 cm2 V-1 s-1. The mobility is thermally deactivated, suggesting a band-like transport mechanism. According to our analysis, the charges predominantly recombine via radiative recombination with a radiative yield close to 98%, even at room temperature. The remaining charges recombine by either trap-assisted (Shockley-Read-Hall) recombination or undergo trapping to deep traps. The high mobility, near-unity radiative yield, and possibility of large-scale production of atomic wires by liquid exfoliation make Te of high potential for next-generation nanoelectronic and optoelectronic applications, including far-infrared detectors and lasers.