Group other other other other Layered II-V II-V II-V IV-VI II-VI II-VI

Elem. Material 1 3 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 Selenium Copper indium selenide, CIS Copper zinc tin sulfide, CZTS Copper indium gallium selenide, CIGS Gallium selenide Zinc antimonide Zinc arsenide Zinc phosphide Lead selenide Mercury zinc selenide Mercury zinc telluride

Formula Se CuInSe2 Cu2ZnSnS

Band gap Gap (eV) type 1.74 1 direct 4 1.49 direct direct

Description Used in selenium rectifiers.

CuInGaSe 1 1.7 GaSe Zn3Sb2 Zn3As2 Zn3P2 PbSe HgZnSe HgZnTe 0-2.25 2.1

Cu2ZnSnS4 is derived from CIGS, replacing the Indium/Gallium with earth abundant Zinc/Tin. CuInxGa1 xSe2. Polycrystalline. Used in thin film othersolar cells, highly efficient.

indirect Photoconductor. Uses in nonlinear optics. Used in infrared detectors and thermal imagers, transistors, and magnetoresistors.

0.27

direct

Used in infrared detectors for thermal imaging. Nanocrystals usable as quantum dots. Used in infrared detectors, infrared imaging sensors, and infrared astronomy. Better mechanical and thermal properties than HgCdTe but more difficult to control the composition. More difficult to form complex heterostructures. Efficient solid-state x-ray and gamma-ray detector, can operate at room temperature. High electro-optic coefficient. Used in solar cells. Can be used to generate and detect terahertz radiation. Can be used as a substrate for epitaxial growth of HgCdTe. Can be grown on AlSb, GaSb, InAs, and PbSe. Used in solar cells, compoments of microwave generators, blue LEDs and lasers. Used in electrooptics. Together with lithium niobate used to generate terahertz radiation. Band gap 3.54 eV (cubic), 3.91 (hexagonal). Can be doped both n-type and ptype. Common scintillator/phosphor when suitably doped. Used for blue lasers and LEDs. Easy to n-type doping, p-type doping is difficult but can be done with e.g. nitrogen. Common optical material in infrared optics. Photocatalytic. Bandwidth tunable from 3 to 4 eV by alloying with magnesium oxide and cadmium oxide. Intrinsic n-type, p-type doping is difficult. Heavy aluminium, indium, or gallium doping yields transparent conductive coatings; ZnO:Al is used as window coatings transparent in visible and reflective in infrared region and as conductive films in LCD displays and solar panels as a replacement of indium tin oxide. Resistant to radiation damage. Possible use in LEDs and laser diodes. Possible use in random lasers.

II-VI

Cadmium zinc telluride, CdZnTe CZT

1.4 2.2

direct

II-VI

Zinc telluride

ZnTe

2.25[4]

direct

II-VI

Zinc sulfide

ZnS

direct 3.54/3.91[ 4] 2.7[4] direct

II-VI

Zinc selenide

ZnSe

II-VI, oxide 2

Zinc oxide

ZnO

3.37[4]

direct

II-VI

Cadmium selenide

CdSe

1.74[4]

IV IV

2 1

Silicon-germanium Germanium

SiGe Ge

Nanoparticles used as quantum dots. Intrinsic n-type, difficult to dope ptype, but can be p-type doped with nitrogen. Possible use in optoelectronics. Tested for high-efficiency solar cells. 0.67 1.11[ indirect adjustable band gap, allows construction of heterojunction structures. 3] Certain thicknesses of superlattices have direct band gap.[5] 0.67[3][4] indirect Used in early radar detection diodes and first transistors; requires lower purity than silicon. A substrate for high-efficiency multijunction photovoltaic cells. Very similar lattice constant to gallium arsenide. High-purity crystals used for gamma spectroscopy. May grow whiskers, which impair reliability of some devices.

direct