Structures and Properties of Hydrogen-Containing Defects in Semiconductors

1. Structures and Properties of Hydrogen-Containing Defects in Semiconductors Michael Stavola, Lehigh University, DMR 0403641 Hydrogen is an important impurity in semiconductors because it is introduced easily and is ubiquitous in the growth and processing environment. Once present, H modifies the electrical properties of semiconductors and the behavior of electronic devices. Dilute III-N-V alloys such at GaPN have been the focus of much attention because of their application in opto-electronic devices. Hydrogen has the remarkable effect of modifying the band gap energies of these semiconductor materials. Experimental work supported by NSF probes the vibrational properties of the H-containing defects in the III-N-V alloys and has provided structure-sensitive data that have led to a microscopic model for the important N-H defects in these novel, promising electronic materials.

2. Structures and Properties of Hydrogen-Containing Defects in Semiconductors Michael Stavola, Lehigh University, DMR 0403641 Societal Impact and Education: The research work on H in semiconductors supported by NSF provides an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to make important contributions to problems in semiconductor physics that have an impact on electronics technology, often in collaboration with leading scientists in the US and abroad. This experience helps to ignite in students the excitement that leads to successful careers in science. (Our students are working on experiments along with leading groups in the U.S., Germany, Italy, and Denmark.) Highly qualified undergraduates are recruited nationwide as part of Lehigh’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates program which exposes students, often from small colleges, to university-level research. M. Lockwood, an undergraduate student from New Mexico State Univ., and C. Peng, a graduate student from Lehigh Univ., are shown making low-temperature IR absorption measurements to probe the properties of H impurities in semiconductors.