Effect of supercooling on the microstructural development and optimization of physical properties of melt grown SnSe crystals
- Title
- Effect of supercooling on the microstructural development and optimization of physical properties of melt grown SnSe crystals
- Creator
- Kunjomana A.G.; Bibin J.; Karthikeyan R.; Varadharajaperumal S.
- Description
- The microstructural development of stoichiometric tin monoselenide (SnSe) crystals grown by vertical BridgmanStockbarger method using an indigenously fabricated furnace has been investigated under high vacuum (~ 10?6 mbar). The ampoule translation rate (tr) and supercooling, ?T (= Tm ? T, where Tm is the melting point and T is the crystallization temperature) were varied in the range, 122mm/h and 20100C respectively. Enhancement of ?T and tr led to constitutional supercooling, inducing compositional changes and non-stoichiometry. Low ?T (2040C) and high tr (1210mm/h) resulted in globules, flakes and cavities. When ?T = 60C and tr = 9 to 7mm/h, mounds were formed with closed contours and ripples, due to atomically rough liquidsolid (l-?) interface. Fine tuning of ?T (60C) and tr (2mm/h) enabled smooth planar interface, so as to yield good quality crystalline structures with periodic atomic deposition promoting crystal growth, layer-by-layer. Energy dispersive analysis by X-rays and powder X-ray diffraction studies revealed appreciable crystallinity, chemical homogeneity and phase purity. The density of crystals estimated from crystallographic data (6.183g/cm3) corroborates with that obtained utilizing Archimedes principle. Thermogravimetric and microindentation analyses established thermal and mechanical stability. The low etch pit density (~ 102 cm?2) manifests nearly perfect growth of crystals than their melt counterparts. UVVisNIR and PL spectra reflected direct transition with an energy gap of 1.32eV, validating immense potential of the grown crystals for photovoltaic applications. 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
- Source
- Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, Vol-30, No. 15, pp. 14300-14311.
- Date
- 2019-01-01
- Publisher
- Springer New York LLC
- Coverage
- Kunjomana A.G., Department of Physics and Electronics, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, 560 029, Karnataka, India; Bibin J., Department of Physics and Electronics, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, 560 029, Karnataka, India; Karthikeyan R., Department of Physics and Electronics, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, 560 029, Karnataka, India; Varadharajaperumal S., Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, 560 012, Karnataka, India
- Rights
- Restricted Access
- Relation
- ISSN: 9574522
- Format
- Online
- Language
- English
- Type
- Article
Collection
Citation
Kunjomana A.G.; Bibin J.; Karthikeyan R.; Varadharajaperumal S., “Effect of supercooling on the microstructural development and optimization of physical properties of melt grown SnSe crystals,” CHRIST (Deemed To Be University) Institutional Repository, accessed April 20, 2025, https://archives.christuniversity.in/items/show/16638.