J. C. González

Hopping conduction and persistent photoconductivity in Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films

The temperature dependence of electrical conductivity and the photoconductivity of polycrystalline Cu2ZnSnS4 were investigated. It was found that at high temperatures the electrical conductivity was dominated by band conduction and nearest-neighbour hopping. However, at lower temperatures, both Mott variable-range hopping (VRH) and Efros?Shklovskii VRH were observed. The analysis of electrical transport showed high doping levels and a large compensation ratio, demonstrating large degree of disorder in Cu2ZnSnS4. Photoconductivity studies showed the presence of a persistent photoconductivity effect with decay time increasing with temperature, due to the presence of random local potential fluctuations in the Cu2ZnSnS4 thin film. These random local potential fluctuations cannot be attributed to grain boundaries but to the large disorder in Cu2ZnSnS4.

Admittance spectroscopy of Cu2ZnSnS4 based thin film solar cells

In this report, we propose an AC response equivalent circuit model to describe the admittance measurements of Cu2ZnSnS4 thin film solar cell grown by sulphurization of stacked metallic precursors. This circuit describes the contact resistances, the back contact, and the heterojunction with two trap levels. The study of the back contact resistance allowed the estimation of a back contact barrier of 246 meV. The analysis of the trap series with varying temperature revealed defect activation energies of 45 meV and 113 meV. The solar cell’s electrical parameters were obtained from the J-V curve: conversion efficiency, 1.21%; fill factor, 50%; open circuit voltage, 360 mV; and short circuit current density, 6.8 mA/cm2.

Synthetic melanin thin films: Structural and electrical properties

Scanning probe microscopy was used to investigate the structural and electrical organization at the nanoscopic level of hydrated melanin thin films synthesized by oxidizing L-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-alanine (L-dopa) in dimethyl sulfoxide. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) provided the morphologies of the L-dopa melanin films. Electrostatic force microscopy and conductive-AFM were used to spatially resolve the electrical properties of the material. Using a simple parallel plate capacitor model a method to measure the charge distribution on the sample was developed. The correlations between topography, electric charge, and current images of the sample demonstrated that the hydration process produces a restructuring of melanin observed not only through topographic variations, but also through the creation of areas with different electrical properties.

Comparison of fluctuating potentials and donor-acceptor pair transitions in a Cu-poor Cu2ZnSnS4 based solar cell

The structure of the electronic energy levels of a single phase Cu2ZnSnS4 film, as confirmed by Raman Scattering and x-ray diffraction, is investigated through a dependence on the excitation power of the photoluminescence (PL). The behavior of the observed asymmetric band, with a peak energy at ∼1.22 eV, is compared with two theoretical models: (i) fluctuating potentials and (ii) donor-acceptor pair transitions. It is shown that the radiative recombination channels in the Cu-poor film are strongly influenced by tail states in the bandgap as a consequence of a heavy doping and compensation levels. The contribution of the PL for the evaluation of secondary phases is also highlighted.

On three dimensional self-organization and optical properties of InAs quantum-dot multilayers

We report on experiments aimed at producing three-dimensional self-organization in InAs quantum-dot multilayers embedded in GaAs. These InAs/GaAs quantum-dot multilayers have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Employing atomic force microscopy, we have analyzed the island density in samples with different number of periods of InAs/GaAs bilayers The results reveals a decrease and a tendency to saturation of the island density with an increase in the number of periods, as a three-dimensional self-organization characteristic of these samples. Optical properties of the samples are examined via photoluminescence spectroscopy. The evolution of the quantum-dot photoluminescence peak position indicates an increment in the mean size of the buried islands and a relative homogenization in size of the quantum dots, as the number of periods increases. The results of the optical measurements agree with the morphological data, and characterize a spatial process of self-organization, related to the increment of the nu...

Structural and optical characterization of Mg-doped GaAs nanowires grown on GaAs and Si substrates

We report an investigation on the morphological, structural, and optical properties of large size wurtzite GaAs nanowires, low doped with Mg, grown on GaAs(111)B and Si(111) substrates. A higher density of vertical nanowires was observed when grown upon GaAs(111)B. Very thin zinc-blende segments are observed along the axis of the nanowires with a slightly higher linear density being found on the nanowires grown on Si(111). Low temperature cathodoluminescence and photoluminescence measurements reveal an emission in the range 1.40–1.52 eV related with the spatial localization of the charge carriers at the interfaces of the two crystalline phases. Mg related emission is evidenced by cathodoluminescence performed on the GaAs epilayer. However, no direct evidence for a Mg related emission is found for the nanowires. The excitation power dependency on both peak energy and intensity of the photoluminescence gives a clear evidence for the type II nature of the radiative transitions. From the temperature dependence on the photoluminescence intensity, non-radiative de-excitation channels with different activation energies were found. The fact that the estimated energies for the escape of the electron are higher in the nanowires grown on Si(111) suggests the presence of wider zinc-blende segments.

X-ray determination of vertical ordering of InAs quantum dots in InAs/GaAs multilayers

The degree of vertical alignment of InAs quantum dots in InAs/GaAs(001) multilayers was studied using grazing incidence x-ray scattering. We show that it is necessary to access one of the weak (200) x-ray reflections to observe the modulation of the GaAs lattice periodicity produced by the stacking of the InAs dots. The degree of alignment of the dots was assessed by fitting the x-ray diffuse scattering profiles near a GaAs (200) reciprocal lattice point. By using a model of gaussian lateral displacement of the dots, we show that we can determine the average value of the mistake in stacking positions of the islands from one bilayer to the next.

Identification of rhenium donors and sulfur vacancy acceptors in layered MoS2 bulk samples

MoS2 monolayers, a two-dimensional (2D) direct semiconductor material with an energy gap of 1.9 eV, offer many opportunities to be explored in different electronic devices. Defects often play dominant roles in the electronic and optical properties of semiconductor devices. However, little experimental information about intrinsic and extrinsic defects or impurities is available for this 2D system, and even for macroscopic 3D samples for which MoS2 shows an indirect bandgap of 1.3 eV. In this work, we evaluate the nature of impurities with unpaired spins using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) in different geological macroscopic samples. Regarding the fact that monolayers are mostly obtained from natural crystals, we expect that the majority of impurities found in macroscopic samples are also randomly present in MoS2 monolayers. By EPR at low temperatures, rhenium donors and sulfur vacancy acceptors are identified as the main impurities in bulk MoS2 with a corresponding donor concentration of about 108–...

Improvements in focused ion beam micromachining of interconnect materials

Focused ion beam micromachining (FIBM) of integrated circuits continues to be an important tool for design debug, editing, and verification; for metrology; and for process control. FIBM of copper interconnects has presented challenges not faced when micromachining aluminum interconnects and the introduction of low-k dielectrics present additional challenges. A new approach to chemically assisted FIBM of thin film Cu, SiO2, and SiLK low-k material using polar precursor molecules has been investigated. Polar alcohols were used to reduce the sputter rate of SiO2 and SiLK while having a minimal effect on the Cu sputter rate. A new FIBM process based on the reduction of the FIB Ga+ energy from the typical 25 to 15 keV is also introduced. The new low energy FIBM process was shown to increase the sputter rate of polycrystalline Cu with strong (111) crystallographic texture by a factor of 2.5. This increase in the sputter rate of Cu combined with a slight reduction of the sputter rate of SiO2 and SiLK results in ...

Graded composition CdxZn1−xTe films grown by Isothermal Close Space Sublimation technique

Abstract Graded composition CdxZn1−xTe films were prepared by growing several alternate layers of CdTe and ZnTe by the Isothermal Close Space Sublimation technique. The thickness of both kinds of layers was modified along the structure to produce an increase of the average concentration of CdTe towards the surface of the films. Due to Zn/Cd inter-diffusion during the growth process the sequence of layers was converted into a relatively smooth graded composition film. According to X-ray diffraction characterization the layers grew coherently with the (100) oriented GaAs substrates although they showed a relatively high mosaicity. θ−2θ plots show very wide diffraction peaks as expected from variable composition samples. The band gap grading effect in light absorption was also verified through transmission measurements, using transparent substrates. Graded composition profiles of the thin films were confirmed by x-ray photoelectron and secondary ion mass spectroscopies. Moreover, quantitative Cd, Zn and Te profiles were obtained by the analysis of Rutherford backscattering spectra of the samples. This analysis showed a CdTe molar fraction profile ranging from approximately x=0.8 at the surface of the sample and x=0.35 at the interface with the substrate. The possibility of growing graded composition layers using a simple and cost-effective procedure was demonstrated. This could be interesting in technological applications like CdxZn1−xTe layers of variable composition in CdS/CdTe solar cells.