Shallow dopants and compensating centers in antimony chalcogenides

对高效率、低成本太阳能电池的迫切需求促使研究人员寻找新的吸收材料用于薄膜光电子学。三硒化锑（Sb2Se3）和三硫化锑（Sb2S3）作为高效、环保、稳定、低成本的薄膜太阳能电池的新型吸收剂，引起了人们极大的研究兴趣。缺陷和杂质对所有半导体器件的性能有着决定性的影响。目前，Sb2Se3和Sb2S3中的缺陷的物理学仍未被探索，并且不清楚原生缺陷、杂质或缺陷复合物中的哪一个以及在何种程度上引入电荷载流子并充当有害的陷阱位点或复合中心。我们的建议旨在弥合这一差距。该项目的中心目标是研究单晶Sb2Se3和Sb2S3中浅掺杂剂和补偿中心的基本性质。我们将专注于技术上重要的杂质，如氯，氧和氢。光学和电学光谱学将被用来深入了解微观结构，电活性，热稳定性，扩散机制，演化动力学，以及外来掺杂剂和原生缺陷之间的复合物的形成。该项目将有助于更好地了解Sb2Se3和Sb2S3中的缺陷，从而支持将这些材料应用于更广泛的技术用途，如光电化学、光电化学电池或其他太阳能驱动的应用。

The urgent need for high-efficiency, low-cost solar cells motivates researchers to look for new absorber materials for thin-film photovoltaics. Antimony triselenide (Sb2Se3) and antimony trisulfide (Sb2S3) have attracted immense research interest as new absorber for highly efficient, environmentally friendly, stable, and cost-effective thin-film solar cells. Defects and impurities have a decisive impact on the performance of all semiconductor devices. At present, the physics of defects in Sb2Se3 and Sb2S3 remains unexplored and it is not ambiguously clear which of native defects, impurities, or defect complexes and to what extend introduce charge carriers and act as detrimental trap sites or recombination centers. Our proposal aims at bridging this gap. The central goal of the project in question is to study fundamental properties of shallow dopants and compensating centers in single-crystalline Sb2Se3 and Sb2S3. We will focus on technologically important impurities such as chlorine, oxygen, and hydrogen. Optical and electrical spectroscopy will be employed to get insight into microscopic structure, electrical activity, thermal stability, diffusion mechanisms, evolution kinetics, and formation of complexes between extrinsic dopants and native defects. The project will contribute to a better understanding of defects in Sb2Se3 and Sb2S3 and, thus, support efforts in bringing these materials to a broader technological usage in photovoltaics, photoelectrochemical cells, or other solar-driven applications.