Advances in energy technologies and electronics have typically occurred through either heightened performance or cost reduction. This dissertation explores both routes through a series of fundamental material studies that may contribute to the enabling of next generation devices. Solution based syntheses and deposition of chemical products offer a low cost...
The atomic solid state energy (SSE) scale is introduced as a tool for inorganic materials design. The SSE scale is obtained by assessing an average electron affinity (EA) (for a cation) or an average ionization potential (IP) (for an anion) for each atom using data from compounds having that specific...
BiCuOSe and SnS are layered, moderate band gap (ε[subscript G] ≈ 1 eV) semiconductors that exhibit intrinsic p type conductivity. Doping of BiCuOSe with Ca results in a slight expansion of the lattice and an increase of the hole concentration from 10¹⁸ cm⁻³ to greater than 10²⁰ cm⁻³. The large...
The central focus of this thesis is the design, fabrication and characterization of amorphous oxide semiconductor (AOS) thin-film transistor (TFT) current mirrors. The thin-film deposition and circuit fabrication methods used to realize zinc tin oxide (ZTO) TFT
current mirrors are addressed in order to elucidate the processing challenges for this...
This dissertation outlines two approaches for improving the efficiency and reducing the cost of photovoltaic energy generation. First, the structures of known binary copper and iron compounds are used to choose the promising compositions Fe₂XS₄ (X = Si, Ge), Cu₃TaQ₄ (Q = Se, Te), and BaCuQ'F (Q' = S, Se,...
Investigations on the application of self-assembled monolayers (SAM) to indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) thin film transistors (TFT) for fabrication and channel modification are presented. The back channel of IGZO thin film transistors can be modified by the absorption of self-assembled monolayers. The electrical properties of the IGZO exposed back...
Inkjet-printed p-type copper(I) iodide-based TFTs were successfully fabricated. As-printed copper(I) halide semiconductor films, such as CuI, CuBrI, and CuClI, were used as p-type active channel layers for TFTs. The entire process of the TFTs fabrication was maintained under 150 °C, which is compatible with flexible plastic substrates and transparent glass...
Nanostructured ZnO films were obtained via thermal oxidation of thin films formed with metallic Zn-nanoparticle dispersions. Commercial zinc nanoparticles used for this work were characterized by microscopic and thermal analysis methods to analyze the Zn-ZnO core shell structure, surface morphology and oxidation characteristics. These dispersions were spin-coated on SiO₂/Si substrates...
Thin-film transistors (TFTs) are primarily used as a switching element in liquid crystal
displays. Currently, amorphous silicon is the dominant TFT technology for displays, but
higher performance TFTs will become necessary to enable ultra-definition resolution
high-frequency large-area displays. Amorphous zinc tin oxide (ZTO) TFTs were
fabricated by RF magnetron sputter...
The research presented herein represents an effort to combine the ultra-smooth surface of an amorphous metal thin film (AMTF) with a solution-processed dielectric synthesized via prompt inorganic condensation (PIC). Analysis of dielectric film quality is carried out via electrical measurements of metal-insulator-metal (MIM) diodes. Anneals at 500 and 700 °C...