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Title: Combinatorial Nitrogen Gradients in Sputtered Thin Films

Abstract

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.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [5];  [6]; ORCiD logo [5]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  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)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Next Generation of Materials by Design: Incorporating Metastability (CNGMD); National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1461860
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5K00-71391
Journal ID: ISSN 2156-8952
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
ACS Combinatorial Science
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 20; Journal Issue: 7; Journal ID: ISSN 2156-8952
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; combinatorial sputtering; thin films; nitrogen gradient

Citation Formats

Han, Yanbing, Matthews, Bethany, Roberts, Dennice, Talley, Kevin R., Bauers, Sage R., Perkins, Craig, Zhang, Qun, and Zakutayev, Andriy A. Combinatorial Nitrogen Gradients in Sputtered Thin Films. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1021/acscombsci.8b00035.
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Han, Yanbing, Matthews, Bethany, Roberts, Dennice, Talley, Kevin R., Bauers, Sage R., Perkins, Craig, Zhang, Qun, & Zakutayev, Andriy A. Combinatorial Nitrogen Gradients in Sputtered Thin Films. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscombsci.8b00035
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Han, Yanbing, Matthews, Bethany, Roberts, Dennice, Talley, Kevin R., Bauers, Sage R., Perkins, Craig, Zhang, Qun, and Zakutayev, Andriy A. Thu . "Combinatorial Nitrogen Gradients in Sputtered Thin Films". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscombsci.8b00035. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1461860.
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@article{osti_1461860,
title = {Combinatorial Nitrogen Gradients in Sputtered Thin Films},
author = {Han, Yanbing and Matthews, Bethany and Roberts, Dennice and Talley, Kevin R. and Bauers, Sage R. and Perkins, Craig and Zhang, Qun and Zakutayev, Andriy A.},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1021/acscombsci.8b00035},
journal = {ACS Combinatorial Science},
number = 7,
volume = 20,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {5}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1021/acscombsci.8b00035
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Cited by: 11 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: (a) Illustration of the combinatorial sputtering method used to create nitrogen gradient in thin film sample library. Two idnetical MnTe sputtering targets are set up opposing each other, one recieving Ar as sputtering gas, while the other one receiving both Ar and N2 through gas outlets that aremore » on the opposite of each gun shield. The square substrate is placed above, such that a thin film material library is produced. (b) A grid of 44 points on the sample is established for spatial characterization. The distance of each point between the nitrogen source decreases from top right to bottom left along the sample diagonal. The distance from the nitrogen source in this work is defined as the distance from the intersection of substrate plane and the extrapolation of the Ar+N2 gas pipe.« less
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