Synthesis of Silicates for High-Performance Oxide Semiconductors: Electronic Structure Analysis

The demand for different materials in the field of semiconductors has been driving a strong research during the past decades. Few unique materials have been developed, and with additional modifications like crystal doping, it is now possible to achieve many of the desired material properties with atomic scale precision. An important roadblock for the scientific community lies in the fact that many of the materials being considered as channel replacements for silicon, like GaAs, indeed have well-characterized and likely tunable electronic properties. On the other hand, such compounds are not suitable for mass production because they would represent both an increase in the demand of environmentally critical resources and safety concerns due to their toxic nature. In this work, we report the synthesis of three different silicates using a wet chemical approach, with a strict limitation to nontoxic and environmentally friendly resources. The atomic and electronic structure of the obtained oxides are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (IR), and diffuse reflection ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV/vis) and subsequently examined by means of first-principles calculations. Finally, we not only discuss possible limitations of the synthesized compounds but also anticipate further expansions of our approach to finally present the most likely fields of application.