Copper interstitial recombination centers in Cu3N

Yee, Ye Sheng; Inoue, Hisashi; Hultqvist, Adam; Hanifi, David; Salleo, Alberto; Magyari-Kope, Blanka; Nishi, Yoshio; Bent, Stacey F.; Clemens, Bruce M.

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.97.245201

Title: Copper interstitial recombination centers in ${Cu}_{3} N$

Journal Article · Mon Jun 04 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Physical Review B

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.97.245201· OSTI ID:1440303

Yee, Ye Sheng ^[1]; Inoue, Hisashi ^[2]; Hultqvist, Adam ^[3]; Hanifi, David ^[4]; Salleo, Alberto ^[5]; Magyari-Kope, Blanka ^[1]; Nishi, Yoshio ^[1]; Bent, Stacey F. ^[3]; Clemens, Bruce M. ^[5]

Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Applied Physics
Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering

We present a comprehensive study of the earth-abundant semiconductor Cu₃N as a potential solar energy conversion material, using density functional theory and experimental methods. Density functional theory indicates that among the dominant intrinsic point defects, copper vacancies V_Cu have shallow defect levels while copper interstitials Cu_i behave as deep potential wells in the conduction band which mediate Shockley-Read-Hall recombination. The existence of Cu_i defects has been experimentally verified using photothermal deflection spectroscopy. A Cu₃N/ZnS heterojunction diode with good current-voltage rectification behavior has been demonstrated experimentally, but no photocurrent is generated under illumination. Finally, the absence of photocurrent can be explained by a large concentration of Cu_i recombination centers capturing electrons in p-type Cu₃N.

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Research Organization:: Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0004946; AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1440303

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1440281

Journal Information:: Physical Review B, Vol. 97, Issue 24; ISSN 2469-9950

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 13 works

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