*Article* **Photothermal Determination of the Surface Treatment of Cd1-xBexTe Mixed Crystals**

**Jacek Zakrzewski 1,\*, Karol Strzałkowski 1,\*, Mohammed Boumhamdi 1, Agnieszka Marasek 1, Ali Abouais 1,2 and Daniel M. Kami ´nski <sup>3</sup>**


**Abstract:** Cd1−xBexTe, a new material with potential for X-ray and γ-ray detectors, was analyzed by photothermal piezoelectric spectroscopy. The samples were tested depending on beryllium content and surface preparation. The main aim of the measurements was to extract the energy gap values, which were found for x = 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, and 0.1. It was shown that mechanical (polishing) and chemical (etching) treatment strongly influenced the amplitude and phase spectra of CdBeTe crystals. Piezoelectric spectroscopy allowed for comparing the quality of preparation of both surfaces for a single sample. The sub-surface damaged layer that was created as a result of surface processing had different thermal parameters than the bulk part of the sample. It was responsible for the additional peaks in the amplitude spectrum and changes in the phase spectrum of the photothermal signal. Two different methods of sample etching were analyzed. One completely quenched the signal, and the other did not eliminate the defects present on the surface after the cutting process. The article presents the preliminary interpretation of experimental data using the modified Blonskij model.

**Keywords:** photothermal spectroscopy; surface defects; semiconductors
