Synthesis of a Novel Strontium-based Wide-Bandgap Semiconductor Via X-ray Photochemistry at Extreme Conditions


Egor Evylukhin, Eunja Kim, Petrika Cifligu, David Goldberger, Sarah Schyck, Blake Harris, Sindi Torres, Michael Pravica
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV)
Las Vegas, Nevada, 89154-4002, USA


George R. Rossman
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
California Institute of Technoloty, Pasadena, CA 91125


Abstract

The synthesis and characterization of a novel, low cost, amorphous wide-bandgap semiconductor via X-ray induced decomposition of strontium oxalate at high pressure have been demonstrated. By means of IR spectroscopy, the final product is identified as a mixture of strontium carbonate, strontium oxalate and CO-derived materials. Band gap measurements demonstrate that the final product exhibits a much lower band gap (2.45 eV) than the initial strontium oxalate powder (4.07 eV), suggesting that the synthesized material can be highly useful in electronic and optical applications.