Skip to main content
OSTI.GOVU.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
 

Combinatorial Nitrogen Gradients in Sputtered Thin Films

Journal Article · · ACS Combinatorial Science
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [5];  [6];  [5]
  1. Fudan Univ., Shanghai (China); National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)
  3. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
  4. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
  5. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  6. Fudan Univ., Shanghai (China)
+ Show Author Affiliations

High-throughput synthesis and characterization methods can significantly accelerate the rate of experimental research. For physical vapor deposition (PVD), these methods include combinatorial sputtering with intentional gradients of metal/metalloid composition, temperature, and thickness across the substrate. However, many other synthesis parameters still remain out of reach for combinatorial methods. Here, we extend combinatorial sputtering parameters to include gradients of gaseous elements in thin films. Specifically, a nitrogen gradient was generated in a thin film sample library by placing two MnTe sputtering sources with different gas flows (Ar and Ar/N2) opposite of one another during the synthesis. The nitrogen content gradient was measured along the sample surface, correlating with the distance from the nitrogen source. The phase, composition, and optoelectronic properties of the resulting thin films change as a function of the nitrogen content. Furthermore, this work shows that gradients of gaseous elements can be generated in thin films synthesized by sputtering, expanding the boundaries of combinatorial science.

Research Organization:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Next Generation of Materials by Design: Incorporating Metastability (CNGMD); National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1461860
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA--5K00-71391
Journal Information:
ACS Combinatorial Science, Journal Name: ACS Combinatorial Science Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 20; ISSN 2156-8952
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (33)

Combinatorial In Situ Photoelectron Spectroscopy Investigation of Sb 2 Se 3 /ZnS Heterointerfaces journal November 2016
Effects of Hydrogen on Acceptor Activation in Ternary Nitride Semiconductors journal February 2017
Trade-Offs in Thin Film Solar Cells with Layered Chalcostibite Photovoltaic Absorbers journal January 2017
Accelerated development of CuSbS 2 thin film photovoltaic device prototypes : Accelerated development of CuSbS
  • Welch, Adam W.; Baranowski, Lauryn L.; Zawadzki, Pawel
  • Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 24, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2735
journal February 2016
19·9%-efficient ZnO/CdS/CuInGaSe 2 solar cell with 81·2% fill factor
  • Repins, Ingrid; Contreras, Miguel A.; Egaas, Brian
  • Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 16, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.822
journal May 2008
A structure zone diagram obtained by simultaneous deposition on a novel step heater: A case study for Cu 2 O thin films : Structure zone diagram: A case study for Cu journal August 2015
The origin of the inhomogeneity of electrical resistivity in magnetron-sputtered indium tin oxide thin films journal June 1994
Carrier-induced ferromagnetic interactions in p-doped Zn(1−x)MnxTe epilayers journal June 2000
Analysis of relevant plasma parameters for ZnO:Al film deposition based on data from reactive and non-reactive DC magnetron sputtering journal September 2003
A comparative study of reactor designs for the production of graded films with applications to combinatorial CVD journal January 2008
Oxygen concentration as a combinatorial parameter: The effect of continuous oxygen vacancy variation on SnO2 layer conductivity journal April 2018
Thin films of SnO2:F by reactive magnetron sputtering with rapid thermal post-annealing journal February 2014
Optoelectronic Properties of Strontium and Barium Copper Sulfides Prepared by Combinatorial Sputtering journal September 2017
Combinatorial Reactive Sputtering of In 2 S 3 as an Alternative Contact Layer for Thin Film Solar Cells journal May 2016
High-Throughput Structural and Functional Characterization of the Thin Film Materials System Ni–Co–Al journal August 2017
Combinatorial and High-Throughput Screening of Materials Libraries: Review of State of the Art journal August 2011
Synthesis of N-Doped Graphene by Chemical Vapor Deposition and Its Electrical Properties journal May 2009
Wafer-scale growth of VO2 thin films using a combinatorial approach journal October 2015
An open experimental database for exploring inorganic materials journal April 2018
Deliberate and Accidental Gas-Phase Alkali Doping of Chalcogenide Semiconductors: Cu(In,Ga)Se2 journal February 2017
Thin film synthesis and properties of copper nitride, a metastable semiconductor journal January 2014
Semiconducting properties of spinel tin nitride and other IV 3 N 4 polymorphs journal January 2015
Combinatorial atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition (cAPCVD) of a mixed vanadium oxide and vanadium oxynitride thin film journal January 2009
Hydrogen passivation in nitrogen and chlorine‐doped ZnSe films grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy journal February 1995
Nitrogen doping of tellurium‐based II–VI compounds during growth by molecular beam epitaxy journal November 1995
Thin films of CuInSe 2 produced by rf sputtering with intentional oxygen doping journal June 1991
Applications of high throughput (combinatorial) methodologies to electronic, magnetic, optical, and energy-related materials journal June 2013
Development and application of an instrument for spatially resolved Seebeck coefficient measurements journal May 2013
Synthesis of a mixed-valent tin nitride and considerations of its possible crystal structures journal April 2016
Fulfilling the promise of the materials genome initiative with high-throughput experimental methodologies journal March 2017
On the road to self-sputtering in high power impulse magnetron sputtering: particle balance and discharge characteristics journal April 2014
Design of Semiconducting Tetrahedral Mn 1 − x Zn x O Alloys and Their Application to Solar Water Splitting journal May 2015
Growth of p-type ZnTe thin films by using nitrogen doping during pulsed laser deposition journal August 2015

Cited By (1)

Wurtzite materials in alloys of rock salt compounds journal January 2020

Figures / Tables (5)

Figure 1(p. 6)figure Figure 1
Figure 2(p. 8)figure Figure 2
Figure 3(p. 10)figure Figure 3
Figure 4(p. 11)figure Figure 4
Figure 5(p. 12)figure Figure 5

Similar Records

Capability of focused Ar ion beam sputtering for combinatorial synthesis of metal films
Journal Article · Fri May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, International Journal Devoted to Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films · OSTI ID:22050986
Plasma-activated ion-beam reactive sputtering of NbN thin films
Technical Report · Thu Nov 24 23:00:00 EST 1988 · OSTI ID:5376386

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
combinatorial sputtering
nitrogen gradient
thin films