SNU Department of Materials Science and Engineering Professor Seungwu Han, Korea Institute of Energy Research Professor Kanghoon Yim and SNU Department of Materials Science and Engineering Ph.D Candidate Youn Yong Youn, have developed a computational discovery method for p-type transparent oxide semiconductors, using a hydrogen descriptor.
 
Transparent oxide semiconductors (TOSs) are essential in everyday life, especially in touch panels in smart devices and other transparent displays in advertisements. These semiconductors find further applications in LED’s, solar power cells, and allow needed developments to pioneering fields.
 
For a high efficient semiconducting device, both the n-type and p-type TOSs should have high performances. Although numerous efficient n-type substances have already been well explored, p-types have yet to catch on.
 
Therefore, the research team have developed a successful Computational Hydrogen Descriptor method to screen, predict and detect, highly efficient p-type TOSs. With this method, the research team went further to discover first-hand, the novel and promising CuLiO and La₂O₂Te p-type TOSs, which were undetectable with existing techniques.
 
The research team explained that this computational method based on a substance’s hydrogen interstitial defect formation energy shows higher precision compared to existing screening methods. 
 
Professor Han explained that while finding p-type TOSs using experiment is lengthy and costly, this process will be much more efficient and quicker. In addition, with the discovery of new and more promising p-type TOSs, it is expected to boost the high-performance transparent electronic device industry. 
 
The corresponding research was supported Creative Materials Discovery Program, run by the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and the National Research Foundation of Korea.
 
The results of this research were published on the April 3^rd, Nature Partner Journals (NPJ) Computational Materials, an internationally respected journal in the field of material sciences