Prakash Adithya, Mishra Vikash, M G Mahesha
Department of Physics, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education 576104 India
RSC Adv. 2024 Nov 5;14(47):35184-35197. doi: 10.1039/d4ra06413e. eCollection 2024 Oct 29.
Intrinsic defects in semiconductor thin films play a significant role in determining their optoelectronic properties. In this work, we investigated the impact of aluminium doping on the intrinsic defects and, thereby, the optoelectronic properties of CuO thin films deposited spray pyrolysis. Doping considerably influenced the inherent defects of CuO thin films. Al doping enhanced oxygen interstitial defects and suppressed oxygen vacancy defects. The presence of oxygen interstitials and an improvement in the crystallinity of the films resulted in favourable changes in the properties of the films. The observed modifications in the properties had a profound significance in improving the performance of CuO-based optoelectronic devices such as solar cells. Further, the ease of formation of oxygen interstitial defects compared to other possible defects and their favourable role in enhancing optoelectronic properties were confirmed through theoretical calculations. Thus, comprehensive experimental and theoretical investigation, this study provides significant insights into the formation of defects and their influence on the properties of Al-doped CuO films.
半导体薄膜中的本征缺陷在决定其光电性能方面起着重要作用。在这项工作中，我们研究了铝掺杂对本征缺陷的影响，进而研究了喷雾热解沉积的CuO薄膜的光电性能。掺杂对CuO薄膜的固有缺陷有很大影响。铝掺杂增强了氧间隙缺陷并抑制了氧空位缺陷。氧间隙的存在和薄膜结晶度的提高导致了薄膜性能的有利变化。观察到的性能变化对提高基于CuO的光电器件（如太阳能电池）的性能具有深远意义。此外，通过理论计算证实了与其他可能的缺陷相比，氧间隙缺陷易于形成及其在增强光电性能方面的有利作用。因此，通过全面的实验和理论研究，本研究为缺陷的形成及其对掺铝CuO薄膜性能的影响提供了重要见解。
