Study of vacancy defects in PbSe and Pb1-xSnxSe by positron annihilation

Abstract Positron lifetime measurements have been performed to study vacancy defects in vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) grown PbSe and Pb 1- x Sn x Se ( x = 0.07, 0.1, 0.3). Post-growth annealing under various vapour pressure conditions has been used to change the number of Pb vacancies, resulting in the determination of the specific positron trapping rate μ Pb v = (1.0±0.1)×10 14 s -1 . The sensitivity range of the positron annihilation method to the Pb vacancies was found to be 10 17 Pb ] 20 cm -3 . Positron lifetimes in perfect PbTe, PbSe and PbS crystals have been calculated. Moreover, we have predicted lifetimes of positrons trapped by vacancies. The calculated lifetimes in bulk and defects …