Antimony Doped P-type Zinc Oxide for Piezotronics and Optoelectronics

iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to start by thanking my advisor, Dr. Zhong Lin Wang, for his support and guidance during my time here at Georgia Tech. I will never forget the trust and academic freedom he gave me to pursue a research topic that would not only be challenging, but may have proven fruitless, as it has for so many other researchers in the past. It is thanks to him that I was able to carve out my own niche, and pursue a project I could truly be passionate about. I would also like to thank my committee members for their assistance over the years. I would like to thank Dr. Elsa Reichmanis for leading the IGERT program, which showed me the bigger picture my work could have through its integration of scientific and public policy courses. I would like to thank Dr. Preet Singh for the numerous conversations about research and life on the walks to and from IPST. Next, I would like to thank Dr. Meilin Liu for teaching many of the fundamental concepts that form the foundation of my knowledge of materials science through the courses I took with him. I would like to thank Dr. Benjamin Klein for giving me the opportunity to investigate more exotic applications of my material in radiation detection through our collaborative effort with Dr. Nolan Hertel. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Christopher Summers, who could not be present at my thesis defense, but was a key member of my proposal committee, and always a great source of advice. I would like to thank all the members of Dr. Wang's group, for their help and support. First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr. Wenzhuo Wu, who helped guide my work during my career here, and helping me find greater context and application for my iv research. I would have been completely lost in my research had you not reached out and taken interest in my work. I would also like to thank Dr. Yong Ding for his technical assistance and constant moral support. Your great interest in my research was always a major motivator to develop new novel structures for us to probe together. I would also like to give special thanks to Drs. for their advice and friendship. To all the other members of the group, both past and present, and too numerous to list, I …