Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2010

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Physics and Astronomy

Committee Chair

Larry E. Halliburton.

Abstract

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) are used to identify and characterize point defects in TiO2 crystals having the rutile structure. Defect production occurs at low temperature during illumination with 442 nm laser light. Spectra with S = 1/2 and S = 1 are assigned to singly ionized and neutral oxygen vacancies, respectively. These oxygen vacancies have their unpaired spins localized on the two neighboring titanium ions aligned along the [001] axis. A Ti3+ ion next to a substitutional Si4+ ion, a Ti3+ self-trapped electron, and a self-trapped hole on the oxygen sublattice are also observed.;Fluorine ions substitute for oxygen and are present as unintentional impurities in TiO2 crystals. Isolated singly ionized fluorine donors in an as-grown (fully oxidized) crystal convert to their neutral charge state during exposure to 442 nm laser light at 6 K. These donors return to the singly ionized charge state within a few seconds when the light is removed. In contrast, the neutral fluorine donors are observed at 6 K without photoexcitation after a crystal is reduced at 600 ºC in flowing nitrogen gas. The angular dependences of the EPR and ENDOR spectra provide a complete set of spin-Hamiltonian parameters (principal values are 1.9746, 1.9782, and 1.9430 for the g matrix and -0.23, 0.47, and 5.15 MHz for the 19F hyperfine matrix). These matrices suggest that the unpaired electron is localized primarily on one of the two equivalent neighboring substitutional titanium ions, i.e., the ground state of the neutral fluorine donor in rutile-structured TiO2 is a Ti 3+ ion adjacent to a F- ion.;Hydrogen, in the form of an OH- ion, is a shallow donor in TiO2. In the neutral charge state, the unpaired electron forms an adjacent Ti3+ ion. The hydrogen EPR signal cannot be produced in oxidized crystals containing fluorine donors, which suggest that hydrogen is a shallower donor than fluorine in TiO2 (rutile) crystals. The hydrogen EPR signal is easily observed during illumination in crystals that do not contain fluorine.;Keywords: EPR, ENDOR, TiO2, point defects, shallow donors.

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