Design of Metastable Tin Titanium Nitride Semiconductor Alloys

doi:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b02122

Title: Design of Metastable Tin Titanium Nitride Semiconductor Alloys

Abstract

Here, we report on design of optoelectronic properties in previously unreported metastable tin titanium nitride alloys with spinel crystal structure. Theoretical calculations predict that Ti alloying in metastable Sn ₃N ₄ compound should improve hole effective mass by up to 1 order of magnitude, while other optical bandgaps remains in the 1–2 eV range up to x ~ 0.35 Ti composition. Experimental synthesis of these metastable alloys is predicted to be challenging due to high required nitrogen chemical potential (Δμ _N ≥ +1.0 eV) but proven to be possible using combinatorial cosputtering from metal targets in the presence of nitrogen plasma. Characterization experiments confirm that thin films of such (Sn _1–xTi _x) ₃N ₄ alloys can be synthesized up to x = 0.45 composition, with suitable optical band gaps (1.5–2.0 eV), moderate electron densities (10 ¹⁷ to 10 ¹⁸ cm ^–3), and improved photogenerated hole transport (by 5×). Overall, this study shows that it is possible to design the metastable nitride materials with properties suitable for potential use in solar energy conversion applications.

Authors:

Bikowski, Andre ^[1];

^[2]; Gu, Jing ^[3]; Holder, Aaron ^[1]; Mangum, John S. ^[4]; Gorman, Brian ^[4]; Tumas, William ^[1]; Lany, Stephan ^[1];

^[1]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); San Diego State Univ., San Diego, CA (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Swiss Federal Labs. for Material Science and Technology, Dubendorf (Switzerland)
Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)

Publication Date:: 2017-07-07

Research Org.:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Next Generation of Materials by Design: Incorporating Metastability (CNGMD)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

OSTI Identifier:: 1375624

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5K00-66841
Journal ID: ISSN 0897-4756

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

Resource Type:: Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Chemistry of Materials

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 29; Journal Issue: 15; Journal ID: ISSN 0897-4756

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; optoelectronics; semiconductor alloys; metastability

Citation Formats


                    Bikowski, Andre, Siol, Sebastian, Gu, Jing, Holder, Aaron, Mangum, John S., Gorman, Brian, Tumas, William, Lany, Stephan, and Zakutayev, Andriy. Design of Metastable Tin Titanium Nitride Semiconductor Alloys.  United States: N. p., 2017. 
        Web.  doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b02122.

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                    Bikowski, Andre, Siol, Sebastian, Gu, Jing, Holder, Aaron, Mangum, John S., Gorman, Brian, Tumas, William, Lany, Stephan, & Zakutayev, Andriy. Design of Metastable Tin Titanium Nitride Semiconductor Alloys.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b02122

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                    Bikowski, Andre, Siol, Sebastian, Gu, Jing, Holder, Aaron, Mangum, John S., Gorman, Brian, Tumas, William, Lany, Stephan, and Zakutayev, Andriy. Fri .  
        "Design of Metastable Tin Titanium Nitride Semiconductor Alloys".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b02122.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1375624.

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@article{osti_1375624,

  title        = {Design of Metastable Tin Titanium Nitride Semiconductor Alloys},

  author       = {Bikowski, Andre and Siol, Sebastian and Gu, Jing and Holder, Aaron and Mangum, John S. and Gorman, Brian and Tumas, William and Lany, Stephan and Zakutayev, Andriy},

  abstractNote = {Here, we report on design of optoelectronic properties in previously unreported metastable tin titanium nitride alloys with spinel crystal structure. Theoretical calculations predict that Ti alloying in metastable Sn3N4 compound should improve hole effective mass by up to 1 order of magnitude, while other optical bandgaps remains in the 1–2 eV range up to x ~ 0.35 Ti composition. Experimental synthesis of these metastable alloys is predicted to be challenging due to high required nitrogen chemical potential (ΔμN ≥ +1.0 eV) but proven to be possible using combinatorial cosputtering from metal targets in the presence of nitrogen plasma. Characterization experiments confirm that thin films of such (Sn1–xTix)3N4 alloys can be synthesized up to x = 0.45 composition, with suitable optical band gaps (1.5–2.0 eV), moderate electron densities (1017 to 1018 cm–3), and improved photogenerated hole transport (by 5×). Overall, this study shows that it is possible to design the metastable nitride materials with properties suitable for potential use in solar energy conversion applications.},

  doi          = {10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b02122},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1375624},
  journal      = {Chemistry of Materials},

  issn         = {0897-4756},

  number       = 15,

  volume       = 29,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2017},

  month        = {7}

}

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https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b02122

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Synthesis of Lanthanum Tungsten Oxynitride Perovskite Thin Films
journal, May 2019

Talley, Kevin R.; Mangum, John; Perkins, Craig L.
Advanced Electronic Materials, Vol. 5, Issue 7
https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.201900214

A map of the inorganic ternary metal nitrides
journal, June 2019

Sun, Wenhao; Bartel, Christopher J.; Arca, Elisabetta
Nature Materials, Vol. 18, Issue 7
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-019-0396-2

Stabilization of wide band-gap p-type wurtzite MnTe thin films on amorphous substrates
journal, January 2018

Siol, Sebastian; Han, Yanbing; Mangum, John
Journal of Materials Chemistry C, Vol. 6, Issue 23
https://doi.org/10.1039/c8tc01828f

Semiconducting cubic titanium nitride in the ${Th}_{3} P_{4}$ structure
journal, January 2018

Bhadram, Venkata S.; Liu, Hanyu; Xu, Enshi
Physical Review Materials, Vol. 2, Issue 1
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevmaterials.2.011602

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Abstract

Citation Formats

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