Purification and crystal growth of the bismuth (III) iodide-influence of trace impurities on the crystal quality

Abstract

This work describes the experimental procedure of purification and preparation of BiI3 crystals by Repeated Vertical Bridgman technique, aiming a future application of this semiconductor crystal as a room temperature radiation detector. The BiI3 powder used as raw material was purified three times and, at each purification, the crystal was evaluated by systematic measurements of the reduction of the impurities, crystalline structure, stoichiometry and surface morphology. The reduction of the trace metal impurities in the BiI3, at each purification, was analyzed by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA), in order to evaluate the efficiency of the purification technique established in this work. It was demonstrated that the Repeated Bridgman technique is effective to reduce the concentration of many impurities in BiI3, such as Ag, As, Br, Cr, K, Mo, Na and Sb. The crystalline structure of the BiI3 crystal purified twice and three times was similar to BiI3 pattern. However, for BiI3 powder and purified once, an intensity contribution of the BiOI was observed in the diffractograms. Improvement in the stoichiometric ratio was observed at each purification step, as well as the crystal surface morphology.