Crystal structure, electronic structure, and optical properties of Cu4ZnGe2S7 and Cu4CdGe2S7: Polar diamond-like semiconductors exhibiting second harmonic generation

The novel I4-II-IV2-VI7 quaternary diamond-like semiconductors (DLSs), Cu4ZnGe2S7 and Cu4CdGe2S7, were prepared from the constituent elemental powders at elevated temperatures. Cu4ZnGe2S7 crystallizes in the polar, chiral space group C2 and adopts the Cu4NiSi2S7 structure-type, which can be considered a derivative of the cubic diamond structure. The cadmium analog takes on the Cu5Si2S7 structure-type, which is related to the hexagonal diamond structure, and displays polar, Cc space group symmetry. Both compounds contain [Ge2S7]6- anions created by corner-sharing GeS4 tetrahedra. The crystal structures were carefully evaluated using: 1) extended connectivity tables, 2) minimum bounding ellipsoid analysis, and 3) bond valence sum (BVS) and global instability index (G) calculations. Both compounds are thermally stable up to temperatures exceeding 950 °C and melt incongruently. As assessed using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, Cu4ZnGe2S7 and Cu4CdGe2S7 possess optical bandgaps of 1.65 eV and 1.90 eV, respectively, which are narrower than the analogous I2-II-IV-VI4 DLSs. Electronic structure calculations show that both compounds are direct-bandgap semiconductors with significant contributions of Cu-d and S-p orbitals to the states at the top of the valence band. While Cu4CdGe2S7 displays a weak second harmonic generation (SHG) response, the second-order nonlinear optical susceptibility, χ(2), of Cu4ZnGe2S7 is 14.8 ± 1.5 pm V-1, assessed using the Kurtz-Perry powder method and an optical-grade AgGaSe2 (AGSe) reference. Both compounds exhibit laser-induced damage threshold values similar to AGSe, ~0.1 GW cm-2, for λ = 1.064 μm using picosecond laser pulses. Most importantly, Cu4ZnGe2S7 exhibits a phase-matching behavior at λ = 3.1 μm. These results suggest that Cu4ZnGe2S7 holds potential for use in low-powered laser applications involving efficient wave mixing in the mid-IR region.