Electrical determination of the diffusion barrier for gold in ZnTe

We report on the effect of Au diffusion on the electrical properties of ZnTe films deposited on Au coated substrates using rf magnetron sputtering. A drop over about 8 decades in the room temperature conductivity is observed for a change in substrate temperature from 60 °C to 325 °C. The results are interpreted in terms of a point-defect model that takes into account the interaction between the in-diffused Au and the intrinsic defects. The analysis of the results on the basis of this model yields a diffusion barrier of 0.40 eV for gold in ZnTe.