VGF bulk growth, crystalline perfection and mechanical studies of CdZnTe single crystal: A detector grade materials

Bulk size (∼80 mm long and 20 mm dia.) with high quality single crystal of Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) has been successfully grown by Vertical Gradient Freeze (VGF) method using five zone furnace. The powder X-ray diffraction analysis confirms the phase of CZT crystal and growth direction was found to be (111). The grown crystal was cut and polished into different pieces and crystalline perfection was studied by high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) by employing a multicrystal X-ray diffractometer. The HRXRD study shows that the crystalline perfection of the grown crystals is quite good. The mechanical properties were carried out on the (111) face of different portions (2–1, 2-2-, 6–2, 6–4) of CZT single crystal at room temperature in the load ranging from 0.1 to 5.0 N. The load independent hardness values for 2–1, 2-2, 6–2 and 6–4 are found to be 0.62, 0.65, 0.61 and 0.55 GPa, respectively. In addition, the observed crack profile of indentation mark has been recorded and various other parameters such as dependence of crack length, fracture toughness, brittle index number, yield strength were also calculated and discussed.