Advanced Materials Physics

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Copper-alloyed ZnS as a p-type transparent conducting material

  1. Anthony M. Diamond1,
  2. Luca Corbellini1,
  3. K. R. Balasubramaniam2,3,
  4. Shiyou Chen2,3,
  5. Shuzhi Wang2,
  6. Tyler S. Matthews1,3,
  7. Lin-Wang Wang2,3,
  8. Ramamoorthy Ramesh1,4,
  9. Joel W. Ager2,3,*

Article first published online: 17 AUG 2012

DOI: 10.1002/pssa.201228181

Issue

physica status solidi (a)

physica status solidi (a)

Volume 209, Issue 11, pages 2101–2107, November 2012

Additional Information

How to Cite

Diamond, A. M., Corbellini, L., Balasubramaniam, K. R., Chen, S., Wang, S., Matthews, T. S., Wang, L.-W., Ramesh, R. and Ager, J. W. (2012), Copper-alloyed ZnS as a p-type transparent conducting material. Phys. Status Solidi A, 209: 2101–2107. doi: 10.1002/pssa.201228181

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

  2. 2

    Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

  3. 3

    Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2929 Seventh Street, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA

  4. 4

    Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

*Phone: +011 1 510 486 6715, Fax: +011 510 486 4995

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 19 NOV 2012
  2. Article first published online: 17 AUG 2012
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 26 JUL 2012
  4. Manuscript Revised: 17 JUL 2012
  5. Manuscript Received: 8 MAR 2012

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Keywords:

  • copper;
  • p-type;
  • transparent conductor;
  • transparent diode;
  • zinc sulfide

Abstract

Thumbnail image of graphical abstract

Copper alloyed ZnS was investigated as a p-type, transparent conducting material composed of earth-abundant elements. Thin films of Cu-alloyed ZnS were synthesized using pulsed laser deposition with Cu contents in the range of x = 0.06–0.27 (Cu content x is reported as the fraction of cation present). Thermopower and Hall effect measurements show that the films are p-type. We find that transparency and conductivity are comparable to some of the best reported p-type materials with our best films exhibiting conductivities of 54 S cm−1 and optical transmission of 65% at 550. The hole conduction mechanism is discussed in terms of possible Cu acceptor doping of the ZnS and hole conductivity in a minority Cu2S phase. Transparent rectifying p-CuZnS/n-ZnO diodes were fabricated.

Photo demonstrating the high transparency of a rectifying heterojunction diode made with p-type Cu-alloyed ZnS and n-type ZnO.

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