Electronic structure studies of p-type semiconducting oxides

Abstract

Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) are a unique class of materials which combine the normally mutually exclusive properties of transparency and conduction. Despite the many applications and widespread interest in TCO materials, there are a number of unanswered questions regarding the electronic structure and defect chemistry of TCO materials, in particular with regard to p-type TCOs. The main motivation for the work presented in this thesis has been to fully understand the complex chemistry of the Cu I-based delafossite oxides, and to ascertain if high performance p-type TCOs can be produced from these materials.