MULTI-FUNCTIONAL COVELLITE PREPARED VIA RF MAGNETRON SPUTTERING

Abstract

With a growing interest to make nanotechnology affordable to the public, there is a need to move away from lab-scale fabrication and into industrial-scale fabrication, in order to lower production costs through economies-of-scale. Covellite(CuS) is a degenerate semiconductor that is garnering interest due to its multi-functionality in optoelectronics, plasmonics, resistive memory and electrochemistry. By using RF Magnetron Sputtering (RFMS), a large-area fabrication technique which is a mainstay in the semiconductor industry, CuS was fabricated in several morphologies: film, fin and nanopillars, challenging the present stigma that RFMS grows films exclusively. With the ability to control the morphology of CuS, one can take advantage of tuning to their ideal morphology for the application required. Different applications (RRAM, Photothermal Vapourisation, THRs) were discussed and optimised using the different morphologies prepared. Using RFMS, CuS-based nanotechnology will be affordable to the public and due to its multi-functionality, will have widespread market appeal.