Semiconductors selenium

All five elements in the oxygen group have six electrons in their outer orbits. They are all oxidizers (they accept electrons), but they are not all alike. They range from a nonmetal gas (oxygen) to a nonmetal solid (sulfur) to a nonmetallic semiconductor (selenium) to a semimetal (tellurium) and finally to a radioactive metal (polonium). 

Studies of semiconductor films have shown many facets. The properties of epitaxial films have mainly been investigated on Ge and Si, and to a lesser degree on III—V compounds. Much work, lias been done on polycrystalline II-VI films, particularly with regard to the stoichiometry of the deposits, doping and post-deposition treatments, conductivity and carrier mobility, photo-conductance, fluorescence,electroluminescence, and metal-semiconductor junction properties. Among other semiconductors, selenium, tellunum. and a few transition metal oxides have found some interest. 

The semiconductor selenium is an excellent photoconductor however, its photoresponsiveness decreases sharply at wavelengths over 550 nm, which has motivated research on organic photoconductive materials.1550,1551 Many different organic compounds display photoconductive behaviour, such as phthalocyanines (596 M = metal) or squaraines (597) (Figure 6.33) today more than 90% of xerographic photoreceptors are composed of organic photoconductors. 

Selenium and tellurium have properties similar to sulfur, but they are more metallic. Both are semiconductors. Selenium also has the property of photoconductivity. In light, selenium is a good conductor of electricity, whereas it is a poor conductor in darkness. 

Gribnai/ has tested the theory for three cases a metal sol (gold), a sol of a semiconductor (selenium) and a sol of nonconducting material (mastic) In all tliree the theory was well satisfied, in so far as the sol could be considered monodispersed. 

Selenium and Tellurium Selenium and tellurium have properties similar to those of sulfur, but they are more metallic. For example, sulfur is an electrical insulator, whereas selenium and tellurium are semiconductors. Selenium and tellurium are obtained mostly as by-products of metallurgical processes, such as in the anode mud deposited in the electrolytic refining of copper (page 905). Although there is not much use for tellurium compounds, selenium is used in the manufacture of rectifiers (devices that convert alternating to direct electric current). Both Se and Te are employed in the preparation of alloys, and their compounds are used as additives to control the color of glass. 

Selenium exhibits both photovoltaic action, where light is converted directly into electricity, and photoconductive action, where the electrical resistance decreases with increased illumination. These properties make selenium useful in the production of photocells and exposure meters for photographic use, as well as solar cells. Selenium is also able to convert a.c. electricity to d.c., and is extensively used in rectifiers. Below its melting point selenium is a p-type semiconductor and is finding many uses in electronic and solid-state applications. 

SEMCONDUCTORS - SILICON-BASED SEMICONDUCTORS] (Vol 21) -selenium [SELENIUMAND SELENIUMCOMPOUNDS] (Vol21)... 

Selenium is an essential element and is beneficial at low concentrations, serving as an antioxidant. Lack of selenium affects thyroid function, and selenium deficiencies have been linked to Keshan Disease (34). Selenium at high levels, however, is toxic. Hydrogen selenide (which is used in semiconductor manufacturing) is extremely toxic, affecting the mucous membranes and respiratory system. However, the toxicity of most organ oselenium compounds used as donor compounds for organic semiconductors is not weU studied. 

Bina Selenides. Most biaary selenides are formed by beating selenium ia the presence of the element, reduction of selenites or selenates with carbon or hydrogen, and double decomposition of heavy-metal salts ia aqueous solution or suspension with a soluble selenide salt, eg, Na2Se or (NH 2S [66455-76-3]. Atmospheric oxygen oxidizes the selenides more rapidly than the corresponding sulfides and more slowly than the teUurides. Selenides of the alkah, alkaline-earth metals, and lanthanum elements are water soluble and readily hydrolyzed. Heavy-metal selenides are iasoluble ia water. Polyselenides form when selenium reacts with alkah metals dissolved ia hquid ammonia. Metal (M) hydrogen selenides of the M HSe type are known. Some heavy-metal selenides show important and useful electric, photoelectric, photo-optical, and semiconductor properties. Ferroselenium and nickel selenide are made by sintering a mixture of selenium and metal powder. 

Trigonal selenium is a -type semiconductor with an energy gap of 1.85 eV (104) and a work function of about 6 eV (105), which is the largest value reported for all the elements. Accordingly, a Schottky barrier should be created at the contact of selenium with any metal. This is consistent with the... 

Tellurium Selenides. TeUurium selenides or selenium teUurides are unknown. The molten elements are miscible in aU proportions. The mixtures are not simple soUd solutions but have a complex stmcture. Like the sulfides, the selenides exhibit semiconductor properties. 

Organosulfur Adsorbates on Metal and Semiconductor Surfaces. Sulfur compounds (qv) and selenium compounds (qv) have a strong affinity for transition metal surfaces (206—211). The number of reported surface-active organosulfur compounds that form monolayers on gold includes di- -alkyl sulfide (212,213), di- -alkyl disulfides (108), thiophenols (214,215), mercaptopyridines (216), mercaptoanilines (217), thiophenes (217), cysteines (218,219), xanthates (220), thiocarbaminates (220), thiocarbamates (221), thioureas (222), mercaptoimidazoles (223—225), and alkaneselenoles (226) (Fig. 11). However, the most studied, and probably most understood, SAM is that of alkanethiolates on Au(lll) surfaces. 

Arsenic and selenium, which fall directly below phosphorus and sulfur in the periodic table, are of interest for a variety of reasons. Arsenic is a true metalloid. A metallic form, called gray arsenic, has an electrical conductivity approaching that of lead. Another allotrope, yellow arsenic, is distinctly nonmetallic it has the molecular formula As4, analogous to white phosphorus, P4. Selenium is properly classified as a nonmetal, although one of its allotropes has a somewhat metallic appearance and is a semiconductor. Another form of selenium has the molecular formula Se8. analogous to sulfur. 

Gallium arsenide is a semiconducting material. If we wish to modify the sample by replacing a small amount of the arsenic with an element to produce an n-type semiconductor, which element would we choose selenium, phosphorus, or silicon Why ... 

The molar ratio of the III compound to the V compound is typically l/lO.t ] To obtain the desired semiconductor properties, dopants are added such as zinc (from diethyl zinc) or magnesium (from bis(cyclopentadienyl) magnesium) for p doping, and silicon (from silane) or selenium (from hydrogen selenide) for n doping. 

Basic physical properties of sulfur, selenium, and tellurium are indicated in Table 1.3. Downward the sulfur sub-group, the metallic character increases from sulfur to polonium, so that whereas there exist various non-metallic allotropic states of elementary sulfur, only one allotropic form of selenium is (semi)metallic, and the (semi)metallic form of tellurium is the most common for this element. Polonium is a typical metal. Physically, this trend is reflected in the electrical properties of the elements oxygen and sulfur are insulators, selenium and tellurium behave as semiconductors, and polonium is a typical metallic conductor. The temperature coefficient of resistivity for S, Se, and Te is negative, which is usually considered... 

Trigonal selenium is variously called metallic gray or black selenium and occurs in lustrous hexagonal crystals, which melt at 220.5 °C. Its structure, which has no sulfur analogue, consists of infinite, unbranched helical chains. Its density, 4.82 g cm , is the highest of any form of the element. Trigonal selenium is a semiconductor (intrinsic p-type with a rather indirect transition at about 1.85 eV [5]), and its electronic and photoelectric properties are the basis for many industrial uses of this element. 

Extensive structural, optical, and electronic studies on the chalcopyrite semiconductors have been stimulated by the promising photovoltaic and photoelectrochem-ical properties of the copper-indium diselenide, CuInSe2, having a direct gap of about 1.0 eV, viz. close to optimal for terrestrial photovoltaics, and a high absorption coefficient which exceeds 10 cm . The physical properties of this and the other compounds of the family can be modulated to some extent by a slight deviation from stoichiometry. Thus, both anion and cation deficiencies may be tolerated, inducing, respectively, n- and p-type conductivities a p-type behavior would associate to either selenium excess or copper deficiency. 

The induced co-deposition concept has been successfully exemplified in the formation of metal selenides and tellurides (sulfur has a different behavior) by a chalcogen ion diffusion-limited process, carried out typically in acidic aqueous solutions of oxochalcogenide species containing quadrivalent selenium or tellurium and metal salts with the metal normally in its highest valence state. This is rather the earliest and most studied method for electrodeposition of compound semiconductors [1]. For MX deposition, a simple (4H-2)e reduction process may be considered to describe the overall reaction at the cathode, as for example in... 

Murray CB, Norris DJ, Bawendi MG (1993) Synthesis and characterization of nearly monodisperse CdE (E = sulfur, selenium, tellurium) semiconductor nanocrystaUites. J Am Chem Soc 115 8706-8715... 

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