Quaternary Semiconductors with Positive Crystal Field Splitting: Potential High-Efficiency Spin-Polarized Electron Sources

Journal Article · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2009 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3193662· OSTI ID:1021239

Chen, S Y; Yin, W J; Yang, J H; Gong, X G; Walsh, A; Wei, S H

Traditional high efficiency spin-polarized electron sources (SPES) consist mainly of binary or pseudobinary zinc-blende GaAs based materials, whereas their ternary analogs II-IV-V{sub 2} (II = Zn, Cd, IV = Si, Ge, Sn, and V = As) as well as II-VI ternary analogs I-III-VI{sub 2} (I = Cu, Ag, III = Al, Ga, In, and VI = Se) have not drawn wide attention because their crystal field splitting {Delta}{sub CF} near the valence band maximum is either negative or close to zero in their ground state chalcopyrite structure. Using first-principles calculations, we show that some derivative quaternary I-III-II{sub 2}-VI{sub 4} and II-IV-III{sub 2}-V{sub 4} compounds can have coherent ground state stannite or kesterite structures with large and positive {Delta}{sub CF} due to their increased chemical and structural flexibility. We propose that ZnSiAl{sub 2}As{sub 4} and CdGeAl{sub 2}As{sub 4} in the stannite structure, and ZnSnGa{sub 2}As{sub 4} and CuAlCd{sub 2}Se{sub 4} in the kesterite structure could be good candidate SPES materials with high polarization and quantum efficiency.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO.
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1021239
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 5, 2009 Vol. 95; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CHALCOPYRITE
CRYSTAL FIELD
Computational Sciences
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRON SOURCES
FLEXIBILITY
GROUND STATES
Materials Science and Semiconductors
POLARIZATION
QUANTUM EFFICIENCY
VALENCE