Self-compensation in arsenic doping of CdTe

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-04719-0

Title: Self-compensation in arsenic doping of CdTe

Abstract

Efficient p-type doping in CdTe has remained a critical challenge for decades, limiting the performance of CdTe-based semiconductor devices. Arsenic is a promising p-type dopant; however, reproducible doping with high concentration is difficult and carrier lifetime is low. We systematically studied defect structures in As-doped CdTe using high-purity single crystal wafers to investigate the mechanisms that limit p-type doping. Two As-doped CdTe with varying acceptor density and two undoped CdTe were grown in Cd-rich and Te-rich environments. The defect structures were investigated by thermoelectric-effect spectroscopy (TEES), and first-principles calculations were used for identifying and assigning the experimentally observed defects. Measurements revealed activation of As is very low in both As-doped samples with very short lifetimes indicating strong compensation and the presence of significant carrier trapping defects. Defect studies suggest two acceptors and one donor level were introduced by As doping with activation energies at ~88 meV, ~293 meV and ~377 meV. In particular, the peak shown at ~162 K in the TEES spectra is very prominent in both As-doped samples, indicating a signature of AX-center donors. In conclusion, the AX-centers are believed to be responsible for most of the compensation because of their low formation energy and very prominent peakmore » intensity in TEES spectra.« less

Authors:

^[1]; Swain, Santosh K. ^[2]; Yin, Wan -Jian ^[3]; Zaunbrecher, Katherine ^[4]; Burst, James ^[4]; Barnes, Teresa M. ^[4]; Kuciauskas, Darius ^[4]; Wei, Su -Huai ^[5];

^[2]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)
Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)
Soochow Univ., Suzhou (China)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Beijing (China)

Publication Date:: Tue Jul 04 00:00:00 EDT 2017

Research Org.:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)

OSTI Identifier:: 1372626

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5K00-68633
Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

Resource Type:: Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Scientific Reports

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 7; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing Group

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; doping; CdTe; compensation; arsenic

Citation Formats


                    Ablekim, Tursun, Swain, Santosh K., Yin, Wan -Jian, Zaunbrecher, Katherine, Burst, James, Barnes, Teresa M., Kuciauskas, Darius, Wei, Su -Huai, and Lynn, Kelvin G. Self-compensation in arsenic doping of CdTe.  United States: N. p., 2017. 
        Web.  doi:10.1038/s41598-017-04719-0.

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                    Ablekim, Tursun, Swain, Santosh K., Yin, Wan -Jian, Zaunbrecher, Katherine, Burst, James, Barnes, Teresa M., Kuciauskas, Darius, Wei, Su -Huai, & Lynn, Kelvin G. Self-compensation in arsenic doping of CdTe.  United States.  doi:10.1038/s41598-017-04719-0.

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                    Ablekim, Tursun, Swain, Santosh K., Yin, Wan -Jian, Zaunbrecher, Katherine, Burst, James, Barnes, Teresa M., Kuciauskas, Darius, Wei, Su -Huai, and Lynn, Kelvin G. Tue .  
        "Self-compensation in arsenic doping of CdTe".  United States.  
        doi:10.1038/s41598-017-04719-0.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1372626.

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@article{osti_1372626,

  title        = {Self-compensation in arsenic doping of CdTe},

  author       = {Ablekim, Tursun and Swain, Santosh K. and Yin, Wan -Jian and Zaunbrecher, Katherine and Burst, James and Barnes, Teresa M. and Kuciauskas, Darius and Wei, Su -Huai and Lynn, Kelvin G.},

  abstractNote = {Efficient p-type doping in CdTe has remained a critical challenge for decades, limiting the performance of CdTe-based semiconductor devices. Arsenic is a promising p-type dopant; however, reproducible doping with high concentration is difficult and carrier lifetime is low. We systematically studied defect structures in As-doped CdTe using high-purity single crystal wafers to investigate the mechanisms that limit p-type doping. Two As-doped CdTe with varying acceptor density and two undoped CdTe were grown in Cd-rich and Te-rich environments. The defect structures were investigated by thermoelectric-effect spectroscopy (TEES), and first-principles calculations were used for identifying and assigning the experimentally observed defects. Measurements revealed activation of As is very low in both As-doped samples with very short lifetimes indicating strong compensation and the presence of significant carrier trapping defects. Defect studies suggest two acceptors and one donor level were introduced by As doping with activation energies at ~88 meV, ~293 meV and ~377 meV. In particular, the peak shown at ~162 K in the TEES spectra is very prominent in both As-doped samples, indicating a signature of AX-center donors. In conclusion, the AX-centers are believed to be responsible for most of the compensation because of their low formation energy and very prominent peak intensity in TEES spectra.},

  doi          = {10.1038/s41598-017-04719-0},

  journal      = {Scientific Reports},

  number       = 1,

  volume       = 7,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Tue Jul 04 00:00:00 EDT 2017},

  month        = {Tue Jul 04 00:00:00 EDT 2017}

}

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DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-04719-0

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Works referenced in this record:

Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set
journal, October 1996

Kresse, G.; Furthmüller, J.
Physical Review B, Vol. 54, Issue 16, p. 11169-11186
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.54.11169

Dependence of the Minority-Carrier Lifetime on the Stoichiometry of CdTe Using Time-Resolved Photoluminescence and First-Principles Calculations
journal, August 2013

Ma, Jie; Kuciauskas, Darius; Albin, David
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 111, Issue 6, Article No. 067402
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.067402

Research strategies toward improving thin-film CdTe photovoltaic devices beyond 20% conversion efficiency
journal, December 2013

Gessert, T. A.; Wei, S.-H.; Ma, J.
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 119, p. 149-155
DOI: 10.1016/j.solmat.2013.05.055

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Similar Records

Title: Self-compensation in arsenic doping of CdTe

Abstract

Citation Formats

Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set journal, October 1996

Dependence of the Minority-Carrier Lifetime on the Stoichiometry of CdTe Using Time-Resolved Photoluminescence and First-Principles Calculations journal, August 2013

Research strategies toward improving thin-film CdTe photovoltaic devices beyond 20% conversion efficiency journal, December 2013

Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set
journal, October 1996

Dependence of the Minority-Carrier Lifetime on the Stoichiometry of CdTe Using Time-Resolved Photoluminescence and First-Principles Calculations
journal, August 2013

Research strategies toward improving thin-film CdTe photovoltaic devices beyond 20% conversion efficiency
journal, December 2013