<title>Hg1-xCdxTe electrical property changes induced by rapid thermal annealing</title>

This paper reports the change in the bulk transport properties of p-type MCT samples induced after a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. This change is produced homogeneously within the crystal without interchange of mercury with the surrounding atmosphere. The carrier concentration varies toward an equilibrium value that depends only on the annealing temperature. For the material and temperatures investigated (250 to 450 degree(s)C) the equilibrium carrier concentration depends exponentially on the inverse of the temperature, its value ranges between 7.8 X 10¹⁶ and 4.5 X 10¹⁷ cm^-3. The time needed to reach the equilibrium is a function of the temperature, varying from 10 seconds to 420 degree(s)C to 200 seconds at 250 degree(s)C. Hole mobility is also affected by the RTA process, being its variation also a function of the process temperature and time, but with different values of the evolution parameters. A saturated temperature independent positron lifetime of 310 ps has been measured in all the samples. We attribute this value to presence of a high concentration of mercury vacancy defects, where positrons are annihilated.