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Impurity Doping in Mg(OH)2 for n-Type and p-Type Conductivity Control.
1Department of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya 466-8555, Japan.
Materials (Basel, Switzerland)
|July 9, 2020
Summary
Magnesium hydroxide, typically an insulator, can be transformed into a semiconductor through impurity doping. First-principles calculations reveal specific impurities that can create shallow donors and acceptors, enabling electronics applications.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Computational Materials Science
Background:
- Magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2) possesses a wide bandgap (~5.7 eV), classifying it as an electrical insulator.
- Understanding impurity effects is crucial for tailoring material properties for electronic applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To computationally predict the energy levels of impurities within the Mg(OH)2 lattice.
- To explore the potential of Mg(OH)2 as a wide-gap semiconductor through impurity doping.
Main Methods:
- First-principles calculations were employed to investigate impurity doping in Mg(OH)2.
- A 135-atom supercell model of brucite Mg(OH)2 was utilized.
- Density-of-states analysis was performed on charge-neutral cells with substitutional or interlayer impurities.
Main Results:
- Trivalent cations (Al, Fe) at Mg sites and certain alkali/coinage metals (Cu, Ag, Na, K) at interlayer sites act as shallow donors.
- An interlayer fluorine (F) atom was identified as a potential shallow acceptor.
- Impurity doping can effectively control the electronic valence of Mg(OH)2.
Conclusions:
- Impurity doping can convert the insulating Mg(OH)2 into a functional wide-gap semiconductor.
- The identified shallow donors and acceptors offer pathways for creating n-type and p-type Mg(OH)2 materials.
- This research opens possibilities for novel electronics applications utilizing doped Mg(OH)2.
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