Electrical and optical identification of the persistent acceptor as copper in ZnTe

Capacitance, photoluminescence and infra-red absorption experiments have been performed on copper doped ZnTe single crystals. Comparative measurements on samples treated at various temperatures show clearly that Cu introduces a single acceptor level with high solubility. Spectroscopic results allow to identify the persistent acceptor “a” at 149 meV as copper on substitutional zinc site confirming that native defects are not responsible for the p-type conductivity of undoped ZnTe.