Polycrystalline PbTe:In Films on Amorphous Substrate: Structure and Physical Properties

Polycrystalline PbTe:In films on a polyimide substrate were obtained and investigated. Their structural and transport properties in a wide range of temperatures (10–300 K) were studied. The unique feature of In impurity in PbTe is the stabilization of the Fermi level (pinning effect) that allowed for the preparation polycrystalline films with the same carrier concentration. We found that heat treatment in an argon atmosphere does not change the average grain size and carrier concentration for as-grown films but greatly increases the Hall mobility and the electron mean free path. By comparing the mobility in the bulk and in the film after heat treatment, we extracted the value of the mobility that arises due to scattering at the grain boundary barriers. The ultimate goal of the present study is the development of these films in designing portable uncooled photodetectors for the mid-IR range.