Easily doped p-type, low hole effective mass, transparent oxides

Fulfillment of the promise of transparent electronics has been hindered until now largely by the lack of semiconductors that can be doped p-type in a stable way, and that at the same time present high hole mobility and are highly transparent in the visible spectrum. Here, a high-throughput study based on first-principles methods reveals four oxides, namely X(2)SeO(2), with X = La, Pr, Nd, and Gd, which are unique in that they exhibit excellent characteristics for transparent electronic device applications – i.e., a direct band gap larger than 3.1 eV, an average hole effective mass below the electron rest mass, and good p-type dopability. Furthermore, for La(2)SeO(2) it is explicitly shown that Na impurities substituting La are shallow acceptors in moderate to strong anion-rich growth conditions, with low formation energy, and that they will not be compensated by anion vacancies V(O) or V(Se).