Optical Investigation of Defects in p-type CuInSe2 Single Crystals

Optical absorption spectra in the photon energy range from 0.03 to 1.1 eV and photoreflectance spectra in the range of the fundamental edge are measured on p-type CuInSe₂ single crystals. Besides a dominant contribution to the absorption coefficient due to intervalence band transitions below about 0.75 eV the spectra revealed five additional structures that can be ascribed to defect induced optical transitions with characteristic energies between 0.48 and 0.72 eV. Based on a comparison of the near-edge optical absorption and photoreflectance spectra a shallow defect (donor or acceptor) with an ionisation energy of about 46 meV was identified.