Low-temperature growth of metal chalcogenide semiconductors

Adams, Lewis Jakob

Abstract

Metal chalcogenides exhibit a variety of intriguing properties and promising applications. However, a significant challenge in utilising these materials for electronic devices lies in producing high quality thin films. Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) is a scalable technique that can produce extraordinarily high-quality thin films which are nanometres in thickness, over large areas. High growth temperatures are often required in order to synthesise the best quality materials which hinder the use of CVD techniques for commercial thin film manufacture. This work centres on the development, optimisation and use of low-temperature CVD growth systems to grow metal chalcogenides films and two-dimensional materials utilising both aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) and salt-assisted chemical vapour deposition (SA-CVD), respectively. This enables film deposition to occur at lower temperatures when compared to existing reported traditional CVD methods, using single source dithiocarbamate precursors and halide salts. To synthesise metal sulfide, oxide and selenide semiconductors, that are suitable for a wide range of uses, such as optoelectronic, thermoelectric and catalytic applications. Thus, this could offer exciting opportunities for scalable renewable energy research by determining if low-temperature CVD methods can produce high quality films, that are comparable to their existing high temperature counterparts. In this project, materials morphology, crystal quality, lattice strain and structural composition were explored through various characterisation techniques, including Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. The research has proven that low-temperature chemical vapour deposition methods can be utilized to produce high quality molybdenum, zinc and tin chalcogenide semiconductors, which are suitable for optoelectronic and thermoelectric devices and also show great promise for catalysing hydrogen evolution reactions. This mean we are one step closer to a highly efficient, low-cost clean energy future.

Citation

Adams, L. J. Low-temperature growth of metal chalcogenide semiconductors. (Thesis). Keele University. https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/1109400

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Mar 20, 2025
• Public URL: https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/1109400
• Additional Information: Embargo on access until 15 August 2026 - The thesis is due for publication, or the author is actively seeking to publish this material.
• Award Date: 2025-03