Epitaxial Electrodeposition of Metal Oxide Semiconductors

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0071365SwitzerIn this project, epitaxial films of semiconducting metal oxides will be electrodeposited from solution precursors onto single-crystal substrates. The emphasis will be on epitaxial systems with high lattice mismatch, and on the synthesis of technologically-important semiconducting metal oxides that cannot by processed by traditional thermal methods. Epitaxial films are usually deposited by vapor deposition methods, such as chemical vapor deposition, at elevated temperatures onto a single crystal substrate chosen to have a lattice parameter as close as possible to that of the film. The project breaks with these traditions by using a simple low-temperature process, electrodeposition, to produce epitaxial systems with large lattice mismatch. The research project will consist of three phases: (i) Epitaxial electrodeposition and characterization of metal oxide semiconductors, (ii) Mechanistic studies of epitaxial electrodeposition, and (iii) Study of the transition from thermodynamic to kinetic control in epitaxial electrodeposition. The goals of the first phase of the research will be to establish the generality of epitaxial electrodeposition of semiconducting metal oxides and to determine both the out-of-plane and in-plane orientation of the epitaxial films relative to the single-crystal substrates. The second phase of the work will focus on the mechanism of epitaxial electrodeposition. The final phase of the work will explore the transition from thermodynamic to kinetic control of orientation. In this project, epitaxial films of oxide materials will be deposited onto single-crystal substrates using a low temperature process, electrodeposition. This low temperature technique allows the growth of films that cannot be obtained by the standard high-temperature techniques. Thin film materials are important in high tech applications such as information technology and telecommunications.