The preparation and characterization of thin film oxides and chalcogenides by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is presented. An overview of fundamental PLD concepts are presented and are followed by a description implementation and development of the PLD systems at OSU. We present the results of thin film growth of high...
This thesis presents basic studies, including structural, optical and transport measurements, on novel chalcogenide powders and single crystals. BiCuOSe crystals have been synthesized for the first time. The crystal structure of BiCuOSe has been refined and the optical band gap has been measured to be 0.83eV. Crystal structure refinements of...
The p-type semiconductor Cu₃PSe₄ has recently been established to have a direct band gap of 1.4 eV and an optical absorption spectrum similar to GaAs [Foster et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 181903 (2011)], suggesting a possible application as a solar photovoltaic absorber. Here we calculate the thermodynamic stability, defect...
Two different doping techniques, oxygen intercalation and Mg cation
substitution, were investigated in thin film p-type CuScO₂, a wide band gap
semiconductor with the delafossite structure. Films rf-sputtered onto amorphous SiO₂
substrates were polycrystalline after post-deposition annealing. X-ray diffraction was
used to determine that the films are predominantly polycrystalline 3R...
Mixed anion compounds that form ZrCuSiAs-type crystal structures exhibit remarkable properties such as superconductivity at low temperatures,
hole conduction with optical transparency in the visible region, and exciton absorption at room temperature. In this thesis, properties of a selected group of materials out of the very large set of mixed...
Digital printing techniques offer several advantages in manufacturing electronics such as direct writing of materials, reduction of chemical waste, and scalability. In particular, printing can significantly simplify manufacturing processes by directly defining the channel area, the gate, and the source and drain contacts, allowing for lower costs and higher throughput...
A new approach to the discovery of high absorbing semiconductors for solar cells was taken by working under a set of design principles and taking a systemic methodology. Three transition metal chalcogenides at varying states of development were evaluated within this framework. Iron pyrite (FeS₂) is well known to demonstrate...
Current leading thin-film solar cell technologies, i.e., cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), employ elements which are either toxic (Cd), or rare and/or expensive (In, Te, Ga, and Cd). The aim of this thesis is to investigate new, abundant, non-toxic p-type semiconductors for potential solar absorber application....
The primary objective of this thesis is to explore new absorber and p-type window layer materials for thin-film solar cell applications. A new thin-film electron beam deposition system has been installed, is now operational, and has been used to deposit several types of solar cell absorber layers. Material investigations include...