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 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.
- Authors:
-
[2];
[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:
- 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:
- 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.
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
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.
@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},
journal = {Chemistry of Materials},
number = 15,
volume = 29,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jul 07 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Fri Jul 07 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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