Eur. Phys. J. D 61, 609-619 (2011)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2010-10204-2

Defect studies in small CdTe clusters

¹ Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics, Strada Costiera-11, 34151 Trieste, Italy
² Department of Physics, University of Pune, 411007 Pune, India

Corresponding author: ^a somesh.kb@gmail.com

Received: 16 April 2010
Revised: 7 July 2010
Published online: 14 January 2011

Abstract

We study Cd vacancy formation in prototype stoichiometric and non-stoichiometric CdTe clusters with and without passivation. For certain clusters like Cd₁₃Te₁₆, vacancy leads to severe distortion of the geometry due to propagation of defect. Annealing of the vacancy out of the cluster is observed in all unpassivated clusters. Passivated clusters retain their initial geometry and vacancy induced structural distortions are not seen in these clusters since the defect gets localized. Vacancy also induces intragap states. However, it was observed that the passivation of the dangling bonds created by the vacancy removes the intragap states. In an attempt to have CdTe clusters with extrinsic carriers, we substituted a Cd atom by its adjacent atoms Pd/Ag/In/Sn in these CdTe clusters. Substitutional doping of Cd by metal atoms increases the stability of unpassivated clusters. For certain clusters, metal atom doping leads to a half-metallic character. Pd/Ag-doped clusters are p-type semiconductors whereas In-doped clusters are n-type semiconductors. Sn doping in these clusters does not result in n-type semiconductors.