University of SaskatchewanHARVEST
  • Login
  • Submit Your Work
  • About
    • About HARVEST
    • Guidelines
    • Browse
      • All of HARVEST
      • Communities & Collections
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
      • This Collection
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
    • My Account
      • Login
      JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
      View Item 
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item

      Advancing the Characterization of Semiconductors with Synchrotron Radiation

      Thumbnail
      View/Open
      DEBOER-DISSERTATION-2020.pdf (29.63Mb)
      Date
      2021-01-04
      Author
      de Boer, Tristan LC
      ORCID
      0000-0002-6898-5040
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Level
      Doctoral
      Metadata
      Show full item record
      Abstract
      The characterization of materials is a crucial step that enables their use in practical devices. With the goal of developing improved devices, the utility of advancing the manner in which materials are characterized is clear. In this work, novel characterization and analysis techniques that utilize synchrotron-based spectroscopic techniques are developed and employed to gain deeper insight into the electronic properties of material systems than would otherwise be possible. A variety of material systems are studied, which range from new phases of bulk semiconductors to materials that have been perturbed in some way, such as by the presence of dopants, intercalants, or vacancies. These materials are characterized using a variety of synchrotron-based spectroscopic techniques which range from core-level spectroscopy techniques that probe the occupied and unoccupied electronic density states of a material, to those which reveal the presence of localized defects. The electronic properties of the semiconductor ZnSiN2 have been studied using core-level spectroscopic techniques, yielding an electronic band gap of 4.7 ± 0.3 eV, in agreement with a calculated value of 4.5 eV. A new carrier-dependent excitation approach has been developed to detect and identify the origin of defects in semiconductor systems and gain qualitative insight into the carrier dynamics following X-ray excitation. Applied to ZnSiN2, this yields a hierarchy of mid-gap nitrogen vacancy defect levels. A new analytical approach has been developed to interpret a characteristic spectral feature of intercalated graphitic systems, called the pre-π* feature. The redistribution of spectral weight in this region is direct evidence of charge transfer between the intercalated ion and the host lattice. This is demonstrated in a study of PF6-intercalated graphite, in which charge is transferred from the host lattice to the intercalant anion. The electronic properties of several other semiconductor systems have also been studied. The band gap of MgSiN2 has been determined to be 5.6 ± 0.2 eV, in agreement with a calculated value of 5.7 eV. The band gap of the Ia-3, R-3c and Pbcn polymorphs of In2O3 have been determined to be 3.2 ± 0.3, 3.1 ± 0.3 and 2.9 ± 0.3 eV, respectively. This is in agreement with respective calculated values of 3.3, 3.3 and 2.9 eV determined for the Ia-3, R-3c and Pbcn In2O3 polymorphs, respectively.
      Degree
      Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
      Department
      Physics and Engineering Physics
      Program
      Physics
      Supervisor
      Moewes, Alexander
      Committee
      Chang, Gap-Soo; Tse, John S; Bourassa, Adam; Burgess, Ian
      Copyright Date
      December 2020
      URI
      http://hdl.handle.net/10388/13232
      Subject
      soft x-ray spectroscopy
      x-ray absorption spectroscopy
      x-ray emission spectroscopy
      density functional theory
      x-ray excited optical luminescence
      x-ray Raman spectroscopy
      semiconductors
      semiconductor defect
      semiconductor dopant
      ZnSiN2
      SnO2
      MgSiN2
      TiO2
      In2O3
      InN
      graphite intercalation
      anion intercalation
      carbyne
      SrBe6ON4
      Collections
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      University of Saskatchewan

      University Library

      The University of Saskatchewan's main campus is situated on Treaty 6 Territory and the Homeland of the Métis.

      © University of Saskatchewan
      Contact Us | Disclaimer | Privacy