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Kin Man Yu



Kin Man Yu received his Ph. D. in Materials Science and Mineral Engineering at UC Berkeley in 1987 and is a LBNL staff scientist and a principal investigator in the Electronic Materials Program, Materials Sciences Division.  Dr. Yu’s research interests include the following areas:





• Design, synthesize and characterize novel highly mismatched III-V and II-V semiconductor  alloys for photovoltaic applications

• Structural, optical and electrical properties of group III nitrides for full spectrum PV applications

• Ion beam analysis and modifications of semiconductors

• Defects in semiconductors

Dr. Yu holds several patents related to new materials for PV applications and has published over 400 articles in refereed journals and conference proceedings with over 9500 total citations and a h-index of 46.  He also co-authored 11 invited reviews and book chapters.  Together with Dr. W. Walukiewicz, Dr. Yu received the 2006 R&D 100 award (Editor’s choice) for “most promising technology” for their invention on “multiband semiconductor for high efficiency solar cell."


Selected recent publications:

  1. Guibin Chen, K. M. Yu, L. A. Reichertz, and W. Walukiewicz, “Material Properties of Cd1−xMgxO alloys Synthesized by Radio-Frequency Sputtering,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, 041902 (2013).
  2. Douglas M. Detert, Sunnie H.M. Lim, Kyle Tom, Alexander V. Luce, André Anders, Oscar D. Dubon, Kin Man Yu, Wladek Walukiewicz, “Crystal Structure and Properties of CdxZn1-xO Alloys Across the Full Composition Range,” Appl. Phys. Lett., 102, 232103 (2013).
  3. K. M. Yu, W.L. Sarney, S. V. Novikov, D. Detert, R. Zhao, J. Denlinger, S.P. Svensson, O. D. Dubon, W.Walukiewicz, and C. T. Foxon, “Highly Mismatched N-rich GaN1-xSbx films grown by Low Temperature Molecular Beam Epitaxy,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 102104 (2013).
  4. Kin Man Yu, Marie A. Mayer, Derrick T. Speaks, Hongcai He, Ruying Zhao, L. Hsu, Samuel S. Mao, E. E. Haller, and Wladek Walukiewicz, “Ideal Transparent Conductors for Full Spectrum Photovoltaics,” J. Appl. Phys. 111, 123505 (2012).
  5. Marie A. Mayer, Derrick T. Speaks, Jonathan D. Denlinger, Lothar Reichertz, Jeff Beeman, Kin Man Yu, Eugene E. Haller, and Wladek Walukiewicz, “ZnO1-xSex as a photoelectrochemical anodic absorber,” J. Phys. Chem. C116, 15281 (2012).
  6. M. Dobrowolska,  K. Tivakornasithorn, X. Liu, J. K. Furdyna, M. Berciu, K. M. Yu and W. Walukiewicz, “Controlling Curie temperature in (GaMn)As through location of the Fermi level within the impurity band,” Nature Materials 11, 444–449 (2012).
  7. A. X. Levander, S. V. Novikov, Z. Liliental-Weber, R. dos Reis, J. D. Denlinger, J. Wu, O. D. Dubon, C. T. Foxon, K. M. Yu, and W.Walukiewicz, “Growth and Transport Properties of p-type GaNBi Alloys,” Invited feature article, J. Mater. Res. 14, 2887-2894 (2011).
  8. Nair. López, Lothar. A. Reichertz, K. M. Yu, Kenneth Campman, and Wladek. Walukiewicz, “Engineering the Electronic Band Structure for Multiband Solar Cells,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 028701 (2011).
  9. K. M. Yu, S. V. Novikov, R. Broesler, Z. Liliental-Weber, A. X. Levander, O. D. Dubon, J. Wu, W. Walukiewicz, and C. T. Foxon, “Low Gap Amorphous GaN1-xAsx Alloys Grown on Glass Substrate,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 101906 (2010).
  10. Marie A. Mayer, Derrick T. M Speaks, Kin Man Yu, Samuel S. Mao, Eugene E. Haller, and Wladek Walukiewicz, “Band structure engineering of ZnO1-xSex alloys,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 022104 (2010).
  11. D. T. M. Speaks, K. M. Yu, S. S. Mao, E. E. Haller and W. Walukiewicz, “Fermi Level Stabilization Energy in Cadmium Oxide,” J. Appl. Phys. 107, 113706 (2010).
  12.  K. M. Yu, S. V. Novikov, R. Broesler, I. N. Demchenko, J. D. Denlinger, Z. Liliental-Weber, F. Luckert, R. W. Martin, W. Walukiewicz, and C. T. Foxon, “Highly Mismatched GaN1-xAsx Alloys in the Whole Composition Range,” J. Appl. Phys. 106, 103709 (2009).
  13. K. M. Yu, “N-type Doping of InGaN by High Energy Particle Irradiation,” Phys. Status Solidi A 206, No. 6, 1168–1175 (2009).
  14.  K. M. Yu, W. Walukiewicz, J.W. Ager III, D. Bour, R. Farshchi, O. D. Dubon, S. X. Li, I. D. Sharp, and E. E. Haller, "Multiband GaNAsP Quaternary Alloys," Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 092110 (2006).
  15. K. M. Yu, W. Walukiewicz, J. Wu, W. Shan, and J. W. Beeman, M. A. Scarpulla, O. D. Dubon, and P. Becla, "Diluted II-VI Oxide Semiconductors with Multiple Band Gaps," Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 246203 (2003).


Research Highlights:


Engineering Semiconductor Materials for Solar Power Conversion Applications

Collaborators: W. Walukiewicz, Z. Liliental-Weber, J. Wu, O. D. Dubon




Perfect Transparent Conductor for Full Spectrum Photovoltaics

Collaborators: W. Walukiewicz, S. S. Mao (EETD)