| AVS 61st International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Materials Characterization in the Semiconductor Industry Focus Topic | Monday Sessions |
| Session MC+2D+AP+AS-MoA |
| Session: | Characterization of III-Vs (2:00-3:20 pm)/Photovoltaics, EUV masks, etc. (3:40-4:40 pm) |
| Presenter: | Sriya Banerjee, Washington University, St. Louis |
| Authors: | Y. Myung, Washington University, St. Louis S. Banerjee, Washington University, St. Louis H. Im, Korea University J. Park, Korea University S. Raman, Physical Electronics Inc. P. Banerjee, Washington University, St. Louis |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Composition controlled Cu1-xZnxO layers have been synthesized on pretreated a-brass followed by ambient oxidation. The pretreatment consists of a vacuum anneal step which effectively depletes the surface of Zn. The depleted Zn specimens were then oxidized at various temperatures ranging from 300oC – 600oC. SEM and XRD result shows the oxide consists of CuO/ZnO film/nanowire composite architecture. The analysis of electronic structure (XPS) and optical properties (PL) shows the formation of Zn containing alloy in the surface region of CuO films. The composition ratio of Cu and Zn were calculated based on XPS survey spectra. In particular, XPS fine spectra revealed that as the oxidation temperature increases, the binding energy of Zn 2p3/2shifts to higher energy, suggesting the possibility of hybridization between the Zn ions and Cu ions.
Photoelectrochemical properties of Cu1-xZnxO cathodes exhibit robust photocurrent densities (~3 mA/cm2). We suggest the dezincification followed by thermal oxidation provides a better approach for composition tuned nanostructure design and fabrication. These semiconductor nanoarchitectures are excellent candidate materials for fabricating solar energy harvesting photoelectrodes as well as optoelectronic devices.