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Application

Until very recently silicate glasses


were the only type of materials
commonly used.
Advantages over their crystalline
counterparts:
Amorphous solids are relatively easy
to prepare i.e. large-area,
homogeneous amorphous thin film
can be prepared. For example a-Si:H
for solar cells or thin-film transistors.

Near the glass transition


temperature, which is lower than
melting point, the materials remain
workable so that they can easily be
formed into various shapes.
Amorphous materials, particularly
bulk glasses are often structurally
homogeneous and isotropic and their
physical properties are also
homogeneous and isotropic, unlike
crystalline materials.

Various applications
Brief summary

Amorphous semiconductors are


promising electronic materials for
wide range of applications such as:

Solar

cell
Thin film transistors (TFT)
Light sensors
Optical memory devices
Electro photographic application
X-ray image sensors
Eu-doped optical fiber
DVD (digital video/versatile disc)
Hard cover made from ta-C

Various applications
Details

Electro

photographic application:
one of the most common, everyday
used application is electro
photography or xerography (Greek
word, meaning is dry writing).
The first xerography was made by
Carlson and Kornei in 1938(!) in
Astoria NY (USA).

The really first experiment was


made using sulfur, but later on Se
was the basic material. Recently aSi:H films have been utilized
instead.
( I. Shimizu: 1985 J. Non-Cryst.
Sol. 77-78, 1363 ).

Solar

cells: Potentially the most


important application of the
amorphous semiconductors a-Si:H is
in the direct conversion of sunlight to
electric power.
This is a cheaper raw material than
crystalline silicon. No structural
damage!
For example: space shuttle use.

The

conversation of solar light to


electric power is available
renewaable sources of energies.
The basic physical principle involved
is the absorption of photon resulting
in the creation of electron-hole pairs;
the excess electrons in the
conduction band, and holes in the
valence band.
Internal junction field separates them
before recombination.

There are several conditions that


a thin film solar cell must satisfy
in order to exhibit efficient
photovoltaic energy conversion:
The

optical absorption coefficient ()


must be large enough
The photogenerated electrons and
holes must be collected efficiently by
contacting electrodes on the both
sides of the active film material

Phase change memory

Base
crystalline form
rapid
reversible
transition

form

amorphous

Bit formation
~

1 ns laser heating above melting


point, Tm causes amorphous
(polycrystalline) nanosize bit.
~50 ns laser heating above glass
transition temperature, but below Tm
forms crytalline bit.

Rewriteable

Monitoring
Resistivity
Optical

reflectivity

Phase change materials are the memory


materials of the future:
1. Fast (~ 10 ns)
2. Dense (bit diameter < 50 nm)
3. Stable (several years per lost bit)
4. Long-lived (> 1012 cycles per lost bit)
5. Low manufactoring cost
6. Low power consumption

The end

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