Thin-film solar cells made of Mg-doped SrTiO3 (STO) p-type absorbers are promising candidates for clean energy generation. This material shows... Show moreThin-film solar cells made of Mg-doped SrTiO3 (STO) p-type absorbers are promising candidates for clean energy generation. This material shows p-type conductivity and also demonstrates reasonable absorption of light. In addition, p-type SrTiO3 can be deposited as thin films so that the cost can be lower than the competing methods. In this work, Mg:SrTiO3 (Mg:STO) thin-films were synthesized and analyzed in order to observe their potential to be employed as the base semiconductor in photovoltaic applications. Mg:STO thin-films were grown with pulsed laser deposition (PLD) using a frequency quadrupled Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (YAG) laser and with a substrate that was heated by back surface absorption of infrared (IR) laser light. The samples were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and it was observed that Mg atoms were incorporated in the STO films. Reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) spectroscopy proved that the thin films were polycrystalline. Calculations showed that the lattice constant of Mg:STO/SSF is slightly greater than that of STO/SSF, therefore, the conservation of the characteristic ring pattern for STO suggests of doping by substitution, which is consistent with the examples in literature. Kelvin Probe work function measurements indicated that the work function of the films were 4.167 eV after annealing. EDS spectroscopy showed that Mg was present in the thin films. M.S. in Physics, December 2015 Show less
