I09-Surface and Interface Structural Analysis
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Jack E. N.
Swallow
,
Benjamin A. D.
Williamson
,
Sanjayan
Sathasivam
,
Max
Birkett
,
Thomas J.
Featherstone
,
Philip A. E.
Murgatroyd
,
Holly J.
Edwards
,
Zachary W.
Lebens-higgins
,
David A.
Duncan
,
Mark
Farnworth
,
Paul
Warren
,
Nianhua
Peng
,
Tien-lin
Lee
,
Louis F. J.
Piper
,
Anna
Regoutz
,
Claire J.
Carmalt
,
Ivan P.
Parkin
,
Vin R.
Dhanak
,
David O.
Scanlon
,
Tim D.
Veal
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[18428]
Open Access
Abstract: Transparent conductors are a vital component of smartphones, touch-enabled displays, low emissivity windows and thin film photovoltaics. Tin-doped In2O3 (ITO) dominates the transparent conductive films market, accounting for the majority of the current multi-billion dollar annual global sales. Due to the high cost of indium, however, alternatives to ITO have been sought but have inferior properties. Here we demonstrate that molybdenum-doped In2O3 (IMO) has higher mobility and therefore higher conductivity than ITO with the same carrier density. This also results in IMO having increased infrared transparency compared to ITO of the same conductivity. These properties enable current performance to be achieved using thinner films, reducing the amount of indium required and raw material costs by half. The enhanced doping behavior arises from Mo 4d donor states being resonant high in the conduction band and negligibly perturbing the host conduction band minimum, in contrast to the adverse perturbation caused by Sn 5s dopant states. This new understanding will enable better and cheaper TCOs based on both In2O3 and other metal oxides.
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Sep 2019
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Thomas J.
Whittles
,
Tim D.
Veal
,
Christopher N.
Savory
,
Peter J.
Yates
,
Philip A. E.
Murgatroyd
,
James T.
Gibbon
,
Max
Birkett
,
Richard J.
Potter
,
Jonathan D.
Major
,
Ken
Durose
,
David O.
Scanlon
,
Vinod R.
Dhanak
Abstract: The earth-abundant semiconductor Cu3BiS3 (CBS) exhibits promising photovoltaic properties and is often considered analogous to the solar absorbers copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) and copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS) despite few device reports. The extent to which this is justifiable is explored via a thorough X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) analysis: spanning core levels, ionization potential, work function, surface contamination, cleaning, band alignment, and valence-band density of states. The XPS analysis overcomes and addresses the shortcomings of prior XPS studies of this material. Temperature-dependent absorption spectra determine a 1.2 eV direct band gap at room temperature; the widely reported 1.4–1.5 eV band gap is attributed to weak transitions from the low density of states of the topmost valence band previously being undetected. Density functional theory HSE06 + SOC calculations determine the band structure, optical transitions, and well-fitted absorption and Raman spectra. Valence band XPS spectra and model calculations find the CBS bonding to be superficially similar to CIGS and CZTS, but the Bi3+ cations (and formally occupied Bi 6s orbital) have fundamental impacts: giving a low ionization potential (4.98 eV), suggesting that the CdS window layer favored for CIGS and CZTS gives detrimental band alignment and should be rejected in favor of a better aligned material in order for CBS devices to progress.
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Jul 2019
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I09-Surface and Interface Structural Analysis
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Matthew J.
Wahila
,
Galo
Paez
,
Christopher N.
Singh
,
Anna
Regoutz
,
Shawn
Sallis
,
Mateusz J.
Zuba
,
Jatinkumar
Rana
,
M. Brooks
Tellekamp
,
Jos E.
Boschker
,
Toni
Markurt
,
Jack E. N.
Swallow
,
Leanne A. H.
Jones
,
Tim D.
Veal
,
Wanli
Yang
,
Tien-lin
Lee
,
Fanny
Rodolakis
,
Jerzy T.
Sadowski
,
David
Prendergast
,
Wei-cheng
Lee
,
W. Alan
Doolittle
,
Louis F. J.
Piper
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[20647, 21430]
Abstract: The metal-insulator transition of
NbO
2
is thought to be important for the functioning of recent niobium oxide-based memristor devices, and is often described as a Mott transition in these contexts. However, the actual transition mechanism remains unclear, as current devices actually employ electroformed
NbO
x
that may be inherently different to crystalline
NbO
2
. We report on our synchrotron x-ray spectroscopy and density-functional-theory study of crystalline, epitaxial
NbO
2
thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition and molecular beam epitaxy across the metal-insulator transition at
∼
810
∘
C
. The observed spectral changes reveal a second-order Peierls transition driven by a weakening of Nb dimerization without significant electron correlations, further supported by our density-functional-theory modeling. Our findings indicate that employing crystalline
NbO
2
as an active layer in memristor devices may facilitate analog control of the resistivity, whereby Joule-heating can modulate Nb-Nb dimer distance and consequently control the opening of a pseudogap.
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Jul 2019
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I09-Surface and Interface Structural Analysis
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Jack E. N.
Swallow
,
Benjamin A. D.
Williamson
,
Max
Birkett
,
Alex
Abbott
,
Mark
Farnworth
,
Thomas J.
Featherstone
,
Nianhua
Peng
,
J.
Kieran Cheetham
,
Paul
Warren
,
Anna
Regoutz
,
David A.
Duncan
,
Tien-lin
Lee
,
David O.
Scanlon
,
R.
Vin Dhanak
,
Tim D.
Veal
Abstract: Fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) is a commercially successful transparent conducting oxide with very good electrical (resistivities < 1 × 10 3 Ω⋅ cm) and optical properties (transmittance >85%). These properties coupled with cheap and large-scale deposition on float-glass lines means FTO has found commercial use in, for example, low emissivity windows and solar cells. However, despite its widespread application, a detailed understanding is lacking of the doping and defects in FTO. Recent work [1] has suggested that the fluorine interstitial plays a major role in limiting the conductivity of FTO. Here we present synchrotron radiation high energy x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) of the fluorine 1s core level of FTO films without in situ surface preparation. This probes deeper than standard XPS and shows that the fluorine interstitial is present not just at the surface of the films and is not an artefact of argon ion sputtering for surface preparation.
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Nov 2018
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Elisabetta
Arca
,
Aoife B.
Kehoe
,
Tim D.
Veal
,
Aleksey
Shmeliov
,
David O.
Scanlon
,
Clive
Downing
,
Dermot
Daly
,
Daragh
Mullarkey
,
Igor V.
Shvets
,
Valeria
Nicolosi
,
Graeme W.
Watson
Open Access
Abstract: p-Type transparent conductors and semiconductors still suffer from remarkably low performance compared to their more widespread n-type counterparts, despite extensive investigation into their development. In this contribution, we present a comparative study on the defect chemistry of potential p-type transparent conducting oxides Mg-doped and Ni-doped Cr2O3. Conductivities as high as 28 S cm−1 were achieved by Ni-doping. By benchmarking crystallography and spectroscopy characterization against density functional theory calculations, we show that the incorporation of Ni into Cr2O3 contributes to the composition of the valence band, making the formed holes more delocalized, while Mg states do not interact with the valence band in Mg-doped Cr2O3. Furthermore, it is experimentally proven that Ni has a higher solubility in Cr2O3 than Mg, at least in the highly non-thermodynamic deposition conditions used for these experiments, which directly translates into a higher acceptor concentration. The combination of these two effects means that Ni is a more effective acceptor in Cr2O3 than Mg and explains the improved conductivity observed for the former.
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Nov 2017
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Jack E. N.
Swallow
,
Benjamin A. D.
Williamson
,
Thomas J.
Whittles
,
Max
Birkett
,
Thomas J.
Featherstone
,
Nianhua
Peng
,
Alex
Abbott
,
Mark
Farnworth
,
Kieran J.
Cheetham
,
Paul
Warren
,
David O.
Scanlon
,
Vin R.
Dhanak
,
Tim D.
Veal
Open Access
Abstract: The factors limiting the conductivity of fluorine-doped tin dioxide (FTO) produced via atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition are investigated. Modeling of the transport properties indicates that the measured Hall effect mobilities are far below the theoretical ionized impurity scattering limit. Significant compensation of donors by acceptors is present with a compensation ratio of 0.5, indicating that for every two donors there is approximately one acceptor. Hybrid density functional theory calculations of defect and impurity formation energies indicate the most probable acceptor-type defects. The fluorine interstitial defect has the lowest formation energy in the degenerate regime of FTO. Fluorine interstitials act as singly charged acceptors at the high Fermi levels corresponding to degenerately n-type films. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy of the fluorine impurities is consistent with the presence of substitutional FO donors and interstitial Fi in a roughly 2:1 ratio in agreement with the compensation ratio indicated by the transport modeling. Quantitative analysis through Hall effect, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, and calibrated secondary ion mass spectrometry further supports the presence of compensating fluorine-related defects.
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Nov 2017
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Thomas J.
Whittles
,
Tim D.
Veal
,
Christopher N.
Savory
,
Adam W.
Welch
,
Francisco Willian De Souza
Lucas
,
James T.
Gibbon
,
Max
Birkett
,
Richard J.
Potter
,
David O.
Scanlon
,
Andriy
Zakutayev
,
Vinod R.
Dhanak
Abstract: The earth-abundant material CuSbS2 (CAS) has shown good optical properties as a photovoltaic solar absorber material, but has seen relatively poor solar cell performance. To investigate the reason for this anomaly, the core-levels of the constituent elements, surface contaminants, ionization potential, and valence band spectra are studied by x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). The ionization potential and electron affinity for this material (4.98 eV and 3.43 eV) are lower than for other common absorbers, including CuInxGa(1-x)Se2 (CIGS). Experimentally corroborated density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that the VBM is raised by the lone pair electrons from the antimony cations contributing additional states when compared with indium or gallium cations in CIGS. The resulting conduction band misalignment with CdS is a reason for the poor performance of cells incorporating a CAS/CdS heterojunction, supporting the idea that using a cell design analogous to CIGS is unhelpful. These findings underline the critical importance of considering the electronic structure when selecting cell architectures that optimize open-circuit voltages and cell efficiencies.
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Nov 2017
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Open Access
Abstract: The band gap of earth-abundant ZnSnN2 can be tuned between 1 and 2 eV by varying the growth conditions and resulting cation disorder. The optical absorption edges and carrier densities fall between model curves for cation-ordered orthorhombic and disordered wurtzite ZnSnN2. Hard X-ray photoemission spectra suggest different degrees of cation disorder from comparison with hybrid DFT-calculated densities of states.
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Dec 2015
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B18-Core EXAFS
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[4944]
Abstract: Molybdenum-doped indium oxide (IMO) thin films prepared by aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD) show significantly improved charge carrier mobilities as compared to nominally undoped films prepared by the same technique. The basis for this very unusual behavior has been investigated by density functional theory calculations using a hybrid Hamiltonian, mobility modeling, X-ray photoemission, and X-ray absorption spectroscopies. In contrast to previous claims that Mo acts as a three-electron donor, it is shown that substitutional Mo traps two electrons in localized states falling within the bulk bandgap and thus Mo is a simple one-electron donor. At the same time, there is very little hybridization of Mo 4d states with In 5s states at the bottom of the conduction band. This results in conduction that is spatially separated to some degree from the donors, giving rise to significantly reduced ionized impurity scattering, enhancing the carrier mobility. This is in contrast to Sn-doped In2O3 where the conduction band minimum has significant Sn 5s character, resulting in regular ionized impurity scattering.
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Apr 2015
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Abstract: Molecular-beam epitaxy has been used to grow GaSb 1− x Bi x alloys with x up to 0.05. The Bi content, lattice expansion, and film thickness were determined by Rutherford backscattering and x-ray diffraction, which also indicate high crystallinity and that >98% of the Bi atoms are substitutional. The observed Bi-induced lattice dilation is consistent with density functional theory calculations. Optical absorption measurements and valence band anticrossing modeling indicate that the room temperature band gap varies from 720 meV for GaSb to 540 meV for GaSb 0.95Bi0.05, corresponding to a reduction of 36 meV/%Bi or 210 meV per 0.01 Å change in lattice constant.
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Oct 2013
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