Kinetics of Schottky defect formation and annihilation in single crystal TlBr

The kinetics for Schottky defect (Tl and Br vacancy pair) formation and annihilation in ionically conducting TlBr are characterized through a temperature induced conductivity relaxation technique. Near room temperature, defect generation-annihilation was found to take on the order of hours before equilibrium was reached after a step change in temperature, and that mechanical damage imparted on the sample rapidly increases this rate. The rate limiting step to Schottky defect formation-annihilation is identified as being the migration of lower mobility Tl (versus Br), with an estimate for source-sink density derived from calculated diffusion lengths. This study represents one of the first investigations of Schottky defect generation-annihilation kinetics and demonstrates its utility in quantifying detrimental mechanical damage in radiation detector materials.