Electrical properties of compacted assembly of copper oxide nanoparticles

P-type transparent conducting oxides.

Abstract: Transparent conducting oxides constitute a unique class of materials combining properties of electrical conductivity and optical transparency in a single material. They are needed for a wide range of applications including solar cells, flat panel displays, touch screens, light emitting diodes and transparent electronics. Most of the commercially available TCOs are n-type, such as Sn doped In2O3, Al doped ZnO, and F doped SnO2. However, the development of efficient p-type TCOs remains an outstanding challenge. This challenge is thought to be due to the localized nature of the O 2p derived valence band which leads to difficulty in introducing shallow acceptors and large hole effective masses. In 1997 Hosono and co-workers (1997 Nature 389 939) proposed the concept of 'chemical modulation of the valence band' to mitigate this problem using hybridization of O 2p orbitals with close-shell Cu 3d (10) orbitals. This work has sparked tremendous interest in designing p-TCO materials together with deep understanding the underlying materials physics. In this article, we will provide a comprehensive review on traditional and recently emergent p-TCOs, including Cu(+)-based delafossites, layered oxychalcogenides, nd (6) spinel oxides, Cr(3+)-based oxides (3d (3)) and post-transition metal oxides with lone pair state (ns (2)). We will focus our discussions on the basic materials physics of these materials in terms of electronic structures, doping and defect properties for p-type conductivity and optical properties. Device applications based on p-TCOs for transparent p-n junctions will also be briefly discussed.

Acceptor Levels in p-Type Cu2O: Rationalizing Theory and Experiment

Abstract: Understanding conduction in ${\mathrm{Cu}}_{2}\mathrm{O}$ is vital to the optimization of Cu-based $p$-type transparent conducting oxides. Using a screened hybrid--density-functional approach we have investigated the formation of $p$-type defects in ${\mathrm{Cu}}_{2}\mathrm{O}$ giving rise to single-particle levels that are deep in the band gap, consistent with experimentally observed activated, polaronic conduction. Our calculated transition levels for simple and split copper vacancies explain the source of the two distinct hole states seen in DLTS experiments. The necessity of techniques that go beyond the present generalized-gradient- and local-density-approximation techniques for accurately describing $p$-type defects in Cu(I)-based oxides is discussed.

Understanding the p-type defect chemistry of CuCrO2

Abstract: CuCrO2 is the most promising Cu-based delafossite for p-type optoelectronic devices. Despite this, little is known about the p-type conduction mechanism of this material, with both CuI/CuII and CrIII/CrIV hole mechanisms being proposed. In this article we examine the electronic structure, thermodynamic stability and the p-type defect chemistry of this ternary compound using density functional theory with three different approaches to the exchange and correlation; the generalized-gradient-approximation of Perdew, Burke and Ernzerhof (PBE), PBE with an additional correction for on-site Coulombic interactions (PBE + U) and the nonlocal, screened-exchange hybrid functional HSE06. The fundamental band gap of CuCrO2 is demonstrated to be indirect in nature. Under all growth conditions, the dominant intrinsic p-type defect will be the Cu vacancy, with hole formation centered solely on the Cu sublattice. Mg doping is found to be significantly lower in energy than intrinsic defect formation, explaining the large increases in conductivity seen experimentally. Cu-rich/Cr-poor growth conditions are found to be optimal for both intrinsic and extrinsic (Mg doping) defect formation, and should be adopted to maximize performance.

Modeling the polaronic nature of p-type defects in Cu2O: The failure of GGA and GGA+U

Abstract: The exact nature of the hole traps reported deep in the band gap of Cu2O has been a topic of vigorous debate, with copper vacancies and oxygen interstitials both having been proposed as the relevant defects In this article, the electronic structure of acceptor-forming defects in Cu2O, namely, copper vacancies and oxygen interstitials, is investigated using generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and GGA corrected for on-site Coulombic interactions (GGA+U) GGA produces notionally semimetallic defect complexes, which is not consistent with the experimentally known polaronic nature of conduction in Cu2O GGA+U also predicts a semimetallic defect complex for the “simple” copper vacancy but predicts the “split” vacancy and both oxygen interstitials are characterized by localized polarons, with distinct single particle levels found in the band gap For both methods, however, the positions of calculated transition levels are inconsistent with experimental ionization levels Hence neither GGA nor GGA+U are suc

Negative permeability spectra in Permalloy granular composite materials

Abstract: Complex permeability spectra of Permalloy granular composite materials have been studied in the microwave frequency range. The heat-treated Permalloy particles in the air at several hundreds of °C have a high surface electrical resistance; the eddy current effect in the high frequency permeability spectra can be suppressed in the composite structure containing the percolated particles. A negative permeability has been obtained above 5GHz due to the natural magnetic resonance in the 70vol% particle content composite material. In this content, electrical permittivity spectra show a nonmetallic characteristic. This permeability dispersion can be applied for the left-handed media.

A.c. conduction in amorphous chalcogenide and pnictide semiconductors

Abstract: The various origins of a frequency-dependent conductivity in amorphous semiconductors are reviewed, stressing particularly recent advances and the influences that factors such as correlation and non-random spatial distributions of electrically active centres can have on the a.c. conductivity. A comprehensive survey is given of the experimental a.c. data for two types of amorphous semiconductor, namely chalcogenide and pnictide materials. It is concluded that the a.c. behaviour at intermediate to high temperatures is well accounted for by the correlated-barrier-hopping model, whereas the low-temperature behaviour is probably due to atomic tunnelling.

Introduction to solid state physics

Abstract: Mathematical Introduction Acoustic Phonons Plasmons, Optical Phonons, and Polarization Waves Magnons Fermion Fields and the Hartree-Fock Approximation Many-body Techniques and the Electron Gas Polarons and the Electron-phonon Interaction Superconductivity Bloch Functions - General Properties Brillouin Zones and Crystal Symmetry Dynamics of Electrons in a Magnetic Field: de Haas-van Alphen Effect and Cyclotron Resonance Magnetoresistance Calculation of Energy Bands and Fermi Surfaces Semiconductor Crystals I: Energy Bands, Cyclotron Resonance, and Impurity States Semiconductor Crystals II: Optical Absorption and Excitons Electrodynamics of Metals Acoustic Attenuation in Metals Theory of Alloys Correlation Functions and Neutron Diffraction by Crystals Recoilless Emission Green's Functions - Application to Solid State Physics Appendix: Perturbation Theory and the Electron Gas Index.

Critical Behaviour of Conductivity and Dielectric Constant near the Metal-Non-Metal Transition Threshold

Abstract: A system consisting of randomly distributed metallic and dielectric regions is considered. The metal-non-metal transition takes place when the volume fraction of the metallic phase approaches the percolation threshold. It is shown that the static dielectric constant diverges near the threshold. Critical indexes are introduced which describe the behaviour of the conductivity and the dielectric constant near the threshold as functions of the volume fraction and frequency. The case of non-zero dc conductivity of dielectric regions is considered also. It is shown that all indexes describing the critical behaviour of complex conductivity can be expressed by two indexes which are known from computer and model experiments. The results of computer calculations of Webman et al. are analysed.

Nanocrystalline materials an approach to a novel solid structure with gas-like disorder?

Abstract: Randomly oriented “nanocrystal” with sizes d below 10 nm, were compacted into a nanocrystalline solid. Studies by X-ray diffraction, Mossbauer spectroscopy, and magnetic measurements suggest a novel type of solid structure which consists of crystalline domains and a connective matrix without any short or long range order, corresponding structurally to a “gas-like solid”.