Band Gaps, Band‐Offsets, Disorder, Stability Region, and Point Defects in II‐IV‐N₂ Semiconductors

Abstract

Recent work on heterovalent ternary nitrides, II‐IV‐N2, is reviewed. The authors first provide an overview of the relevant literature, then briefly discuss band gaps, band offsets and the effects and nature of disorder. The authors discuss the energies of formation and evaluate the stability or metastability with respect to competing binary compounds. The Cd‐IV‐N2 compounds are found to be only metastable. For ZnGeN2 we present a revised chemical potential stability region and discuss its effects on the point defect energies of formation. The authors briefly discuss the current status of understanding of the point defects and doping in ZnGeN2.

Zn2SbN3: growth and characterization of a metastable photoactive semiconductor

“…The mobility of the sample was measured to be 0.1 cm 2 V -1 s -1 with a carrier concentration of 2×10 18 cm -3 , a value already suitable for optoelectronic applications. Based on theoretical studies carried out on similar wurtzite compounds such as ZnSnN2 and ZnGeN2, oxygen incorporation could be a possible source of n-type carriers, when present in dilute concentrations 28,29 . Additional theoretical studies to understand the defect chemistry of Zn2SbN3 would be required to conclusively determine the nature of the intrinsic defects and assess their role in the observed n-type conductivity.…”

Domain formation and phase transitions in the wurtzite-based heterovalent ternaries: a Landau theory analysis

“…26) is slightly less favorable ( Fig. 2) (Lyu et al, 2019;Martinez et al 2017;Lahourcade et al, 2013).…”

“…The complexity affects and drives the performance of ternary semiconductors which enables important technologies including nonlinear optics (Petrov, 2012), thermoelectric generators (Ritz & Peterson, 2004;Cook et al, 2007;Ma et al, 2013) and thin-film photovoltaics (Jackson et al, 2011;Siebentritt, 2017). Density functional theory (DFT) Lyu et al, 2019) and Monte Carlo simulations have been used to characterize this complexity (Wei et al, 1992;Ludwig et al, 2011;Ma et al, 2014;Lany et al, 2017).…”

“…Raman measurements reported by Quayle et al (2015) show a glass-like spectrum consistent with a nonperiodic lattice. All XRD measurements of ZnSnN 2 to date show a macroscopically disordered spectrum consistent with wurtzite (Lyu et al, 2019). An experimental investigation of phase transitions in ZnSnN 2 has not yet been carried out.…”

Ternary and Multinary Compounds

“…A special focus of the conference was dedicated to the topic of metastable materials, such as structural polymorphs and semiconductor alloys, non‐equilibrium synthesis techniques, and corresponding theoretical and experimental approaches. These topics are highlighted in the Feature Article, Review Article and Expert Opinion contributed to the special issue, as well as in contributed submissions.…”