Electrical, Photoelectrochemical, and Photoelectron Spectroscopic Investigation of the Interfacial Transport and Energetics of Amorphous TiO2/Si Heterojunctions

Hu, Shu; Richter, Matthias H.; Lichterman, Michael F.; Beardslee, Joseph; Mayer, Thomas; Brunschwig, Bruce S.; Lewis, Nathan S.

doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b09121

Title: Electrical, Photoelectrochemical, and Photoelectron Spectroscopic Investigation of the Interfacial Transport and Energetics of Amorphous TiO₂/Si Heterojunctions

Journal Article · Tue Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Journal of Physical Chemistry. C

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b09121· OSTI ID:1633784

Hu, Shu ^[1]; Richter, Matthias H. ^[1]; Lichterman, Michael F. ^[1]; Beardslee, Joseph ^[2]; Mayer, Thomas ^[3]; Brunschwig, Bruce S. ^[1]; Lewis, Nathan S. ^[1]

California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Technical Univ. of Darmstadt (Germany)

Solid-state electrical, photoelectrochemical, and photoelectron spectroscopic techniques have been used to characterize the behavior and electronic structure of interfaces between n-Si, n⁺-Si, or p⁺-Si surfaces and amorphous coatings of TiO₂ formed using atomic-layer deposition. Photoelectrochemical measurements of n-Si/TiO₂/Ni interfaces in contact with a series of one-electron, electrochemically reversible redox systems indicated that the n-Si/TiO₂/Ni structure acted as a buried junction whose photovoltage was independent of the formal potential of the contacting electrolyte. Solid-state current–voltage analysis indicated that the built-in voltage of the n-Si/TiO₂ heterojunction was ~0.7 V, with an effective Richardson constant ~1/100th of the value of typical Si/metal Schottky barriers. Furthermore, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopic data allowed formulation of energy band-diagrams for the n-Si/TiO₂, n⁺-Si/TiO₂, and p⁺-Si/TiO₂ interfaces. The XPS data were consistent with the rectifying behavior confirmed for amorphous TiO₂ interfaces with n-Si and n⁺-Si surfaces and with an ohmic contact at the interface between amorphous TiO₂ and p⁺-Si.

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Research Organization:: California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0004993

OSTI ID:: 1633784

Journal Information:: Journal of Physical Chemistry. C, Vol. 120, Issue 6; ISSN 1932-7447

Publisher:: American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 69 works

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