Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Effects Of Post-Deposition Annealing On Room Temperature Deposited Zinc Oxide, Ishan Rayen May 2024

Effects Of Post-Deposition Annealing On Room Temperature Deposited Zinc Oxide, Ishan Rayen

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

This study focuses on thin film deposition of ZnO onto a glass slide using magnetron sputtering. The focus of the study is to understand the effects of post-deposition annealing temperatures. The goal is to optimize crystal quality, conductivity, and transparency. The results attempt to answer the effects of room temperature deposition and changes in film properties once annealed. Annealing temperatures ranged from 100°C to 400°C with an annealing time of 30 minutes. This found an ideal temperature of 250°C for post-deposition annealing, resulting in approximately 3.86 times more conductivity with little to no decrease in transparency. However crystal quality did …


Laser-Excitation Spectroscopy Of Niobium Hydride And Tantalum Hydride, Siddhant Singh May 2021

Laser-Excitation Spectroscopy Of Niobium Hydride And Tantalum Hydride, Siddhant Singh

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

The experimental results presented in this paper shed light on some of the fundamental bonding characteristics of NbH and TaH. Six bands of niobium hydride and five weak bands of tantalum hydride were observed for the first time using laser excitation spectroscopy. The rotational assignments of observed bands were confirmed using dispersed fluorescence experiments for NbH and by checking the internal consistency of a global least squares fit for the weaker bands of TaH. For TaH, we were able to determine the term energies and molecular constants of each of its observed states to a high degree of accuracy …


Time-Resolved Thz Conductivity Of An Intermediate Band Semiconductor, Elliot Weiss May 2017

Time-Resolved Thz Conductivity Of An Intermediate Band Semiconductor, Elliot Weiss

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

Intermediate band materials have promising applications as affordable, highly efficient solar materials. However, intermediate band solar cells exhibit low efficiency to date. Carrier recombination is a critical process that limits efficiency. If electrons relax to the valence band before they can be collected, their energy is lost. To help understand the recombination dynamics and physical properties of intermediate band semiconductors, we obtain time-resolved THz conductivity measurements of the intermediate band semiconductor, GaPAsN, at various temperatures. From our results, we build a model that provides insight to the recombination dynamics of GaPAsN.


Intervalley Scattering Rates In Tellurium Observed Via Time-Resolved Terahertz Spectroscopy, Joshua R. Rollag May 2017

Intervalley Scattering Rates In Tellurium Observed Via Time-Resolved Terahertz Spectroscopy, Joshua R. Rollag

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

We conducted time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy measurements on the elemental semiconductor tellurium. Pump-probe measurements were used to find the conductivity as a function of time in single crystalline tellurium samples. It was found that the excitation dynamics in tellurium changes for photon energies of 1.03 eV and 1.55 eV. The change in these excitation dynamics was attributed to intervalley scattering effects. A model using intervalley scattering and Auger recombination was fit to the data, giving a value of 2.28 ps for the intervalley scattering time constant in tellurium.


Conductivity Measurements Of A Thermoelectric Nanomaterial Through Thz Spectroscopy, Michaela S. Koller, James Heyman, Gunnar Footh May 2017

Conductivity Measurements Of A Thermoelectric Nanomaterial Through Thz Spectroscopy, Michaela S. Koller, James Heyman, Gunnar Footh

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

In today’s society there is a great demand on energy output—in the United States alone we rely heavily on non-renewable energy sources. Thermoelectric materials may be able to be used to create more efficient energy systems or recover wasted heat from inefficient technologies. This paper focuses on the conductivity of a new thermoelectric material that incorporates copper into a tellurium nanowire PEDOT:PSS material. The addition of copper seems to increase the conductivity of the material, although the exact relationship between the percentage of copper to tellurium and its affect on the conductivity is uncertain from the results.


Dissociative Excitation Of H2 In An Rf Plasma, John Carlson May 2016

Dissociative Excitation Of H2 In An Rf Plasma, John Carlson

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition is a widely used method for depositing thin films. In order to optimize the properties of the films, it is important to understand the plasma processes that occur during film growth. In this research we use optical emission spectroscopy in order to measure the spectral emission lines of a plasma produced with hydrogen gas. In conjunction with other measurements and modeling, these measurements can provide insight to the electron energy distribution of the plasma.


Modelling Transient Terahertz Magneto-Spectroscopy Measurements Of P-Type Cvd Graphene Leading To A Negative Photoconductivity., Rhyan Foo Kune May 2015

Modelling Transient Terahertz Magneto-Spectroscopy Measurements Of P-Type Cvd Graphene Leading To A Negative Photoconductivity., Rhyan Foo Kune

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

Ultrafast Terahertz (THz) Magneto-Spectroscopy (UTMS) measurements were performed on p-type CVD graphene sample to investigate the intrinsic carrier dynamics of the material. We investigated static and time-resolved THz transmission measurements, in which the sample was photo-excited by a near infrared (NIR) pump pulse, in order to study its behavior in a magnetic field. In these measurements the free carriers were probed to independently measure the carrier density and scattering rate in this film. We observed, in our graphene sample, an increase in transmission related to a negative photoconductivity (decrease in conductivity after photoexcitation) consistent with previous research. This decrease is …