Crystal Growth of Oxides

Zinc Oxide (ZnO) and its alloys have many unique properties such as large direct band gap, high exciton energy, transparency in visible and infrared spectrum and high thermal stability. These unique materials properties coupled with non-toxicity and earth abundancy make them promising candidates for many energy related applications, such as solar cells, thermoelectric, piezoelectric and photo-electronics. In this area, our work focuses on using Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) for high quality single crystal growth of oxides with tunable electrical, thermal and optical properties. Our current work focuses on the growth of ZnO based alloys for solar cells, optical devices, high frequency MEMS and waveguide etc.

Related Publications

Y. Wang, C. Zhou, A.M. Elquist, A. Ghods, V.G. Saravade, N. Lu, I. Ferguson (2018) (Invited) " A review of earth abundant ZnO-based materials for thermoelectric and photovoltaic applications", Proceedings of SPIE: Oxide-based Materials and Devices IX, 105331R; doi: 10.1117/12.2302467.

C. Zhou, A. Ghods, V. G Saravade, P. V Patel, K. L Yunghans, C. Ferguson, Y. Feng, B. Kucukgok, N. Lu, I. T Ferguson (2017) " Review-- The Current and Emerging Applications of the III-Nitrites", ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, 6(12): Q149-Q156.

C. Zhou, A. Ghods, V. G. Saravade, P. V. Patel, K. L. Yunghans, C. Ferguson, Y. Feng, X. Jiang, B. Kucukgok, N. Lu, I. Ferguson (2017) " (Invited) The III-Nitrites as a Universal Compound Semiconductor Material: A Review", ECS Transactions, 6, 3-21.

C. Zhou, A. Ghods, K. L. Yunghans, V. G. Saravade, P. V. Patel, X. Jiang, B. Kucukgok, N. Lu, and I. Ferguson (2017) "ZnO for Solar Cell and Thermoelectric Applications", Proceeding of SPIE: Oxide-based Materials and Devices VIII,  10105K

Y. Liu, E. Ghafari, X. Jiang, Y. Feng, Z. C. Feng, I. Ferguson and N. Lu (2017) "Temperature-dependent Optical Properties of AlN Thin Films by Spectroscopy Ellipsometry", MRS Advances, pp.1-6.

Y. Liu, Q. X. Li, L. Y. Wan, B. Kucukgok, E. Ghafari, I. Ferguson, X. Zhang, S. Wang, Z. C. Feng, N. Lu (2017)  "Composition and Temperature Dependent Optical Properties of AlxGa1−xN Alloy by Spectroscopic Ellipsometry", Applied Surface Science, 421, pp. 389-396.

Z. Liu, X. Yi, Z. Yu, G. Yuan, Y. Liu, J. Wang, J. Li, N. Lu, I. Ferguson,  Y. Zhang (2016) "Impurity Resonant States p-type Doping in Wide-Band-Gap Nitrides", Scientific Reports, 6, (2016) 19537.

Z. Liu, B. Fu, X. Yi, G. Yuan, J. Wang, J. Li, N. Lu, I. Ferguson (2016) "Co-doping of magnesium with indium in nitrides: first principle calculation and experiment", RSC Advances, 6, pp 5111-5115

B. Kucukgok, N. Lu, I. T. Ferguson, S. Wang, X. Zhang, Z. Feng (2015) "Structural and Optical Analyses of AlxGa1-xN Thin Films Grown by Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition",  Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 54, (2015) 02BA05.              

P. Mishra, R. Patel, B. Hussain, J. Stansell, B. Kucukgok, M.Y. Raja, N. Lu, I. T. Ferguson (2014) "Spatial analysis of ZnO thin films prepared by vertically aligned MOCVD", IEEE 2014 High-capacity optical networks and emerging/enabling technologies (HONET) proceeding, pp67-70.

B. Wang, P. Yu, B. Kucukgok, A. G. Melton, N. Lu, I.T. Ferguson (2014) "Characterization of Undoped and Si-doped bulk GaN fabricated by Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy", Physica Status Solidi, C11, (3-4) pp 573-576.

Y. He, X. Lei , Z. Qiu, B Zhang, N. Lu, I. T. Ferguson, Z. Feng (2014) "The characteristics of Optical Pumped GaN-Based Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser Structures", Applied Mechanics and Materials, 692, pp187-190.

B. Hussain, B. Kucukgok, M. Y. A. Raja, B. Klein, N. Lu, I. T. Ferguson (2014) "Is ZnO as a universal semiconductor material an oxymoron?", Proceeding of SPIE: Oxide-based Materials and Devices V, pp.898718-14.

Design of Shallow Acceptors in GaN through Zinc-Magnium Codoping: First Principle Calculation, Applied Physics Express, 6 (2013) pp 042104-4.

Room temperature GaN-based spin polarized emitters, SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 8631 pp 863104-9.

p-InGaN/AlGaN electron blocking layer for InGaN/GaN blue light-emitting diodes, Applied Physics Letters, 101(26), 261106.

Ferromagnetism and Its Stability in n-type Gd-doped GaN: First-principles calculation, Applied Physics Letters, 100 (23), 232408.

Properties of MOCVD-Grown GaN:Gd films for Spintronic Devices”, 2012 MRS Proceeding, 1396, (2012), pp 133-137.

Development of indium-rich InGaN epilayers for integrated solar tandem solar cells, 2012 MRS Fall Technical Conference Proceeding. Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. E15: Thin Film Solar Cells; E 15.02. pp1-6.

Optical and Electrical Characteristics of GaN Vertical Light Emitting Diodes with Current Block Layer, MRS Proceedings, Vol. 1396, pp 15-19.

The Development of a Universal Substrate Technology for the Growth of Light Emitting Diodes, 9th IEEE- HONET Proceedings, pp 188-192.

Properties of MOCVD-grown GaN: Gd films for spintronic devices, Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proceeding, Vol.1396, pp 12-14.

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