Current leading thin-film solar cell technologies, i.e., cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), employ elements which are either toxic (Cd), or rare and/or expensive (In, Te, Ga, and Cd). The aim of this thesis is to investigate new, abundant, non-toxic p-type semiconductors for potential solar absorber application. Two ternary chalcogenides, Cu���PSe��� and CuTaS���, were selected for their attractive calculated optical absorption properties. Thin films of both materials were synthesized using physical vapor deposition (PVD) techniques in conjunction with post-deposition annealing. Cu���PSe��� appears promising for solar absorber applications, with a measured optical bandgap of 1.2 eV, an absorption coefficient (��) reaching 10��� cm�����, Hall mobilities of 19.8���30.3 cm��/V���s, and carrier concentrations of 3.3���4.9 10����� cm�����. Optical characterization of CuTaS��� thin-films showed a rapid turn-on of absorption, with �� exceeding 10��� cm����� within 0.5 eV of the bandgap. To date, reproducible synthesis of CuTaS��� thin films has been problematic. Moreover, these films are insulating and thus not yet appropriate for thin-film solar cell absorber applications. / Graduation date: 2013
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/31669 |
| Date | 02 July 2012 |
| Creators | Waters, Benjamin E. |
| Contributors | Wager, John F. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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