Synthesis and characterization of (Sn,Zn)O alloys

Bikowski, Andre; Holder, Aaron; Peng, Haowei; Siol, Sebastian; Norman, Andrew; Lany, Stephan; Zakutayev, Andriy

doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b02968

Title: Synthesis and characterization of (Sn,Zn)O alloys

Journal Article · Thu Sep 29 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Chemistry of Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b02968· OSTI ID:1332181

Bikowski, Andre ^[1]; Holder, Aaron ^[1]; Peng, Haowei ^[1]; Siol, Sebastian ^[1]; Norman, Andrew ^[1]; Lany, Stephan ^[1]; Zakutayev, Andriy ^[1]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

SnO exhibits electrical properties that render it promising for solar energy conversion applications, but it also has a strongly indirect band gap. Recent theoretical calculations predict that this disadvantage can be mitigated by isovalent alloying with other group-II oxides such as ZnO. Here, we synthesized new metastable isovalent (Sn,Zn)O alloy thin films by combinatorial reactive co-sputtering and characterized their structural, optical and electrical properties. The alloying of ZnO into SnO leads to a change of the valence state of the tin from Sn⁰ via Sn²⁺ to Sn⁴⁺, which can be counteracted by reducing the oxygen partial pressure during the deposition. The optical characterization of the smooth <10 at. % Sn_1-xZn_xO thin films showed an increase in the absorption coefficient in the range from 1 to 2 eV, which is consistent with the theoretical predictions for the isovalent alloying. However, the experimentally observed alloying effect may be convoluted with the effect of local variations of the Sn oxidation state. As a result, this effect would have to be minimized to improve the (Sn,Zn)O optical and electrical properties for their use as absorbers in solar energy conversion applications.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1332181

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5K00-66842

Journal Information:: Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 28, Issue 21; ISSN 0897-4756

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 14 works

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