SPECTROSCOPIC ELLIPSOMETRY STUDY OF TRANSPARENT CONDUCTING METAL, STRONTIUM NIOBATE
Open Access
- Author:
- Park, Yoonsang
- Graduate Program:
- Materials Science and Engineering
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- July 03, 2018
- Committee Members:
- Venkatraman Gopalan, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Roman Engel-Herbert, Committee Member
Zhiwen Liu, Committee Member - Keywords:
- transparent conductor
correlated metals
electron correlation
spectroscopic ellipsometry
transmission
sheet resistance
optical constants - Abstract:
- Transparent conductors exhibit both optical transparency and high electrical conductivity. Because of these properties, they are utilized in a variety of technological applications, such as solid-state lighting, display panel, smart windows, and photovoltaics. Recently, correlated metals, which show different behavior compared to conventional metals due to interactions between electrons, are proved to be good candidacies for transparent conductors. The electron correlations tune the optical and electrical properties so that correlated metals can exhibit high electrical conductivity and optical transparency in the visible range at the same time. Spectroscopic ellipsometry is a powerful characterization tool to probe optical properties of materials. Spectroscopic ellipsometry measures the change in polarization state of light between incident light and reflected light. With proper analysis of ellipsometry data, one can obtain optical dielectric function and corresponding refractive index and extinction coefficients of materials. With refractive index and extinction coefficient, one can determine transmission, reflection, and absorption of the materials. In this thesis, characterization of optical properties of correlated metal SrNbO3 by spectroscopic ellipsometry will be discussed. In Chapter 1, the basics of spectroscopic ellipsometry, which includes basic concepts, general oscillators for modeling, and modeling method will be discussed. In Chapter 2, topics regarding correlated metal SrNbO3, including some background of correlated metals and transparent conductors, and spectroscopic ellipsometry results, will be discussed. Finally, in Chapter 3, Spectroscopic ellipsometry results for other correlated metals will be discussed.