NANOSCALE PROCESSING FOR TERNARY SEMICONDUCTORS

THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP AN ELECTROCHEMICAL TECHNIQUE TO SYNTHESIZE COMPOSITION MODULATED TERNARY SEMICONDUCTOR ALLOYS. PHASE I IS DIRECTED TOWARD DEFINING OPTIMAL CONDITIONS FOR THE SYNTHESIS OF NOVEL SUPERLATTICE STRUCTURES BASED ON I-VI-VII MATERIALS, PARTICULARLY COPPER SELENIUM IODIDE (CUSE3I), AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF A LOW COST N-CUINSE2- BASED PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL. THE TECHNIQUE WILL BE DEMONSTRATED BY INVESTIGATING THE DEPOSITION OF CONTINUOUS-EPITAXIAL AND ABRUPT LAYERED CU-SE-I BASED SUPERLATTICES. THE REACTION MECHANISMS AND DEPOSITION PARAMETERS WILL BE INVESTIGATED BY SYNTHESIZING AND CHARACTERIZING A VARIETY OF CU-SE-I BASED SUPERLATTICES. THE INFORMATION DERIVED FROM THIS PROJECT WILL HELP TO DEVISE A GENERIC ELECTROCHEMICAL METHOD TO FABRICATE NANOSTRUCTURED MATERIALS.