Etch pits of precipitates in CdZnTe crystals on (1 1 1) B surface

The etch pits of Te-rich and Cd-rich precipitates of the Cd0.94Zn0.04Te crystals situated on (111) B surface were distinguished from the dislocation etch pits and evaluated by using Everson Etching for the first time. By using an IR transmission microscope and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with an energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analytical system, the characteristics of the precipitate etch pits were studied. The etch pit of the Te-rich precipitate which would influence the etch rate of its ambient materials shows the shape of triangle or hexagon with a rough surface different from the cone-shaped triangle etch pit as the dislocation etch pit. The etch pit of the Cd-rich precipitate is always enwrapped by large quantities of dislocation etch pits, which indicates the existence of the damaged layers around the Cd-rich precipitate. Base on the characteristics of the precipitate etch pits, the areal densities of the precipitates with the size larger than 5μm on the substrate surfaces can be measured by the optical microscope with a magnification of 50 and under Nomarski mode. Compared with the conventional measurement method based on the IR transmission microscope (IRTM), the method of the etch pit observation (EPO) is more practical for measuring the areal densities of the precipitates of CdZnTe substrates.