Jennifer Brand, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will study a new class of diodes based on two different polytypes of boron-carbide.The heteroisomeric diodes are fabricated by chemical vapor deposition from two different isomers of closo-dicarbadodecaborane, C2B10H12: orthocarborane and metacarborane, that differ only by the carbon placement in the icosahedral cage. Metacarborane tends to form an n-type semiconductor on decomposition, while orthoborane forms a p-type semiconductor. This exploratory research seeks to understand the electronic structure of the diode materials as the device is being produced. The project will include photoemission and inverse photoemission spectroscopy, theroetical calculations and optical absorption techniques.
This award is supported jointly by the NSF Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences and the Intelligence Community. The Approaches to Combat Terrorism Program (ACT) supports new concepts in basic resarch and workforce development with the potential to contribute to national security. These novel diodes are effective solid state neutron detectors and also show promise in photovoltaic or other direct energy conversion devices. Graduate and undergraduate students will be engaged in all aspects of the project.
