Slow relaxation of piezoelectric response in CdZnTe ferroelectric semiconductor single crystals

Abstract

The piezoelectric response in Cd[sub 0.9]Zn[sub 0.1]Te (CZT) semiconductor single crystals has been investigated by analyzing room temperature impedance spectra. The polarization is significantly influenced by light illumination. A slow relaxation process of the piezoelectric response has been observed with a relaxation time of 37 s, which is comparable to the discharge current results. The frequencies for piezoelectric resonance and antiresonance can be tuned to lower values when a bias field is applied and can be recovered when the bias field is removed. These phenomena may be universal for ferroelectric semiconductors and can be explained by a slow relaxation model in dielectrics.