Growth, disorder, and physical properties of ZnSnN{sub 2}

Journal Article · Mon Jul 22 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4816438· OSTI ID:22218305

Feldberg, N.; Aldous, J. D. ^[1]; Linhart, W. M.; Phillips, L. J.; Durose, K.; Veal, T. D. ^[2]; Stampe, P. A.; Kennedy, R. J. ^[3]; Scanlon, D. O. ^[4]; Vardar, G.; Field, III, R. L.; Jen, T. Y.; Goldman, R. S. ^[5]; Durbin, S. M. ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260 (United States)
2. Stephenson Institute for Renewable Energy and Department of Physics, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZF (United Kingdom)
3. Department of Physics, Florida A and M University, Tallahassee, Florida 32307 (United States)
4. University College London, Kathleen Lonsdale Materials Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, 20 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AJ (United Kingdom)
5. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 (United States)

We examine ZnSnN{sub 2}, a member of the class of materials contemporarily termed “earth-abundant element semiconductors,” with an emphasis on evaluating its suitability for photovoltaic applications. It is predicted to crystallize in an orthorhombic lattice with an energy gap of 2 eV. Instead, using molecular beam epitaxy to deposit high-purity, single crystal as well as highly textured polycrystalline thin films, only a monoclinic structure is observed experimentally. Far from being detrimental, we demonstrate that the cation sublattice disorder which inhibits the orthorhombic lattice has a profound effect on the energy gap, obviating the need for alloying to match the solar spectrum.

• OSTI ID: 22218305
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 4; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CATIONS
ENERGY GAP
EV RANGE
FOURIER TRANSFORMATION
IMPURITIES
INFRARED SPECTRA
MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY
MONOCLINIC LATTICES
MONOCRYSTALS
ORTHORHOMBIC LATTICES
PHOTOVOLTAIC EFFECT
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POLYCRYSTALS
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
THIN FILMS
ULTRAVIOLET SPECTRA
VISIBLE SPECTRA