Semiconductor Nanocrystals

About

Highlights: Intentionally inserting impurity atoms into a crystal, or doping, is the basis for the widespread application of semiconductors in electronic and electro-optic components. An additional way to tune the properties of semiconductor structures is by controlling their size and dimensionality via quantum confinement effects. Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals are a family of materials that have size-dependent optical and electronic properties, and lend themselves to the simple manufacture of nanocrystal-based light-emitting diodes, solar cells, and transistor devices. However, doping has proven elusive for strongly confined colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals. Our Innovation: Simple, room-temperature method for doping semiconductor nanocrystals with metal impurities. Exquisite control of the electronic properties, including the band gap and Fermi energy achieved through changing the dopant type and concentration. Key Features First demonstration of electronic doping of quantum confined semiconductor nanocrystals under heavily doped regime Provided understanding of the effects of heavy doping in semiconductor nanocrystals Simple doping method in solution at room temperature using metal dopant atoms developed Development Milestones Project in research phase, moving towards demonstrating a device based on doped nanocrystals The Opportunity The ability to closely control the synthesis of doped nanocrystals, together with a better understanding of heavily-doped colloidal Quantum Dots opens potential avenues for solar cells, thin-film transistors, and diverse electronic and optoelectronic devices.