Work function engineering in low-temperature metals

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Semiconductor devices require conducting electrodes with disparate work functions for their operation. Of recent interest are fluidic processing approaches for large-area devices, which present unique challenges in the identification of materials having disparate work functions but similar melting temperatures. Such materials may be engineered by alloying with low-melting temperature metals. As a demonstration, the work function of tin and four binary tin alloys is measured by ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy and Kelvin probe method. We demonstrate the control of metal work function by 600 meV through alloying while keeping the melting temperature within a 140 °C range.