Annealing behavior of electroplated permalloy thin films. II

The isochronal and isothermal annealing behavior of electroplated Ni-Fe thin films in the temperature range 373°–773°K has been investigated through measurements of electrical resistivity, coercivity, and relative permeability. Analysis of the experimental data indicates that the resistivity decrease is characterized by an activation energy of about 0.70 eV for temperatures up to 550 ° K, and by an activation energy of about 1.82 eV above this temperature. The coercivity initially decreases with an activation energy of about 0.71 eV, and then increases with activation energies up to 1.81 eV. The relative permeability decreases with an activation energy of 1.01 eV. The significance of these activation energies is discussed in terms of structural changes, and the results are compared with the annealing behavior of vapor deposited Ni-Fe thin films.     

Investigation of electrically active defects in amorphous barium titanate thin films

DC and AC electrical properties of amorphous barium titanate thin film capacitors have been investigated as a function of temperature. A clear correlation is found between the temperature dependence of DC leakage currents and the temperature variation of the AC loss peaks, showing that these measurement techniques are probing the same electrical defects. Using either of these two techniques in amorphous barium titanate, we were able to detect oxygen vacancies diffusion with activation energy around 1 eV, and electron traps at 0.3 and 0.4 eV.     

Effect of annealing on structural,optical and electrical properties of pulse electrodeposited tin sulfide films

Polycrystalline tin sulfide (SnS) thin films were grown on conducting glass substrates by pulse electrodeposition. The effect of annealing on the physical properties such as structure, morphology, optical, and opto-electronic properties were evaluated to understand the effect of post-deposition treatment for SnS films. Annealing at temperatures higher than 250 °°C resulted in the formation of SnS₂ as a second phase, however, no significant grain growth or morphological changes were observed for films after annealing at 350 °C. A small change in band gap of 0.1 eV observed for films annealed at 350 °C was interpreted as due to the formation of SnS₂ rather than due to morphological changes. This interpretation was supported by X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, and Raman spectral data. The electric conduction in the films is controlled by three shallow trap levels with activation energies 0.1, 0.05, and 0.03 eV. The trap with energy 0.03 eV disappeared after annealing at higher temperature, however, the other two traps were unaffected by annealing.     

Transport and interface states in high-κ LaSiOx dielectric

The paper presents the results of capacitance-voltage, conductance-frequency and current-voltage characterization in the wide temperature range (140-300 K) as well as results of low temperature (5-20 K) thermally stimulated currents (TSC) measurements of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structures with a high-κ LaSiO_x dielectric deposited on p- and n-type Si(1 0 0) substrate. Interface states (D_it) distribution determined by several techniques show consistent result and demonstrates the adequacy of techniques used. Typical maxima of interface states density were found as 4.6 × 10¹¹ eV⁻¹cm⁻² at 0.2 eV and 7.9 × 10¹¹ eV⁻¹cm⁻² at 0.77 eV from the silicon valence band. The result of admittance spectroscopy showed the presence of local states in bandgap with activation energy E_a = 0.38 eV from silicon conductance band, which is in accord with interface states profile acquired by conductance method. Low-temperature TSC spectra show the presence of shallow traps at the interface with activation energies ranging from 15 to 32 meV. The charge carrier transport through the dielectric film was found to occur via Poole-Frenkel mechanism at forward bias.     

Brush electrodeposited silver indium selenide films and their optical characteristics

Silver indium selenide films were brush electrodeposited on tin oxide coated glass substrates at different substrate temperatures. The films were single phase with chalcopyrite structure. Optical absorption measurements indicated a band gap in the range of 1.20–1.30 eV with decrease of substrate temperature. Transmission spectra exhibited interference fringes. Using the envelope method, calculated values of refractive index at 850 nm decreased from 3.53 to 2.62 with decrease of substrate temperature. From the refractive index data, the value of N/m^⁎ was estimated to be in the range of 0.89–1.22. Optical data were analyzed by the single-effective oscillator model, and the single oscillator energy as well as the dispersion energy was estimated. The single oscillator energy decreased from 1.83 eV to 1.68 eV with the increase of substrate temperature. The dispersion energy increased from 5.42 eV to 12.25 eV with the increase of substrate temperature.     

Variation of the structural,optical and electrical properties of CBD CdO with processing temperature

Nanostructures of CdO thin films are prepared by chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique. The synthesized film is annealed in static air by using the hotplate at 373, 473, 573 and 673 K for 10 min. The effect of annealing temperature on structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties of CdO thin films has been investigated. The prepared thin films are characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscope (AFM), optical reflection microscope (ORM), UV–Visible Spectrophotometer and electrical resistivity. XRD shows the emergence of the cubic phase of CdO film in a preferred orientation (111) plane at 573 K. The AFM and ORM show that CdO films have smooth homogeneous surface in the formula with the emergence of nanoclusters gathering as nanoparticles with the average of grain size about 100 nm at 573 K. The optical properties prove that deposited films have high transparency within the visible range of the spectrum that reaches to more than 85% with a wide band gap that extends from 2.42 eV to 2.7 eV. The electrical properties of the CdO films show that resistivity decreases with increased annealing temperatures. In addition, it is proved that more than one activation energy appears and they change according to the temperature of annealing and this comes as a result of the polycrystalline structure. This study indicates that the properties of CdO thin films could be improved with annealing temperature and these films can be used in many technological applications.     

Effect of copper and chlorine on the properties of SiO2 encapsulated polycrystalline CdSe films

The effects of different copper doping concentrations on the properties of SiO₂ encapsulated CdSe films have been investigated. Two methods were used to dope the films with copper: ion implantation and diffusion from a surface layer. The room temperature dark resistivity of films annealed in oxygen at 450°C was found to increase as the copper concentration was increased until a maximum resistivity of 10⁸ ohm cm occurred at a copper concentration of 10²⁰ atoms cm⁻³. The room temperature resistivity in the light was found to be independent of the copper concentration and whether the films were annealed in argon or oxygen. During annealing the grains grew from 0.03 μm to 0.3 μm and this growth was independent of the doping or the annealing ambient. The energy levels, carrier mobilities, and microstructure of the annealed films were dependent on the method of doping. The ion implanted films had an additional energy level at 0.33 eV and their mobility was a factor of 4 smaller than films doped by the surface diffusion method, whose mobilities were 20 to 35 cm²V⁻¹ s⁻¹. The addition of chlorine to copper doped films had no effect on either the resistivity or photosensitivity but slowed the response times of the photocurrent by a factor of 10. No energy levels were observed which could be associated with the copper nor was the copper found to affect the density of the observed intrinsic levels at 0.65 and 1.1 eV.     

Thermally stimulated current measurements on a UV irradiated organic photoreceptor layer

Thermally stimulated current (TSC) measurements have been performed on a xerographic photoreceptor which has been treated with ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The charge transport layer of the photoreceptor consists of a polyester molecularly doped with an arylamine substituted hydrazone which was observed to undergo UV induced rearrangement to an indazole derivative. The indazole derivative is transparent to the wavelength component inducing the photo-reaction so that the depth of converted material gradually extends farther into the CTL with UV exposure time. The xerographic residual potential variation with irradiation time is attributed to the formation of a potential barrier to transfer of charge from hydrazone hopping states to indazole hopping states. The mobility activation energy obtained from TSC measurements is 0.22 eV for unirradiated material, which decreases to 0.12 eV after 1200 s of irradiation. The latter energy is identified as a signature of the potential barrier. This identification is corroborated by the correlation between the decrease of the residual potential and the increase of the TSC activation energy after 3600 s of irradiation.     

Nanocrystalline Bi2S3 thin films grown by thio-glycolic acid mediated successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) technique

Bismuth sulfide (Bi₂S₃) nanocrystalline thin films were deposited on glass substrate by a simple and low-cost thioglycolic-assisted successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method, using bismuth acetate and thioacetamide as cationic and anionic precursors respectively. Influence of cationic concentration on the structural, optical and electrical properties of Bi₂S₃ thin films were investigated. X-ray diffraction pattern revealed that the prepared Bi₂S₃ thin films are polycrystalline with orthorhombic structure. The surface morphology of Bi₂S₃ thin films examined by atomic force microscopy showed cluster like morphology, and having small hillocks of fairly uniform distribution. Optical studies showed a direct band-to-band transition, and the estimated optical band gap decreases from 1.81 eV to 1.25 eV with the increase in cationic concentration from 0.01 M to 0.03 M. Electrical resistivity measurements by four probe technique revealed negative temperature coefficient of resistance, which confirms the semiconducting nature of Bi₂S₃ thin films. The activation energy of Bi₂S₃ thin films was found to decrease from 0.059 eV to 0.022 eV with the increase in cationic concentration from 0.01 M to 0.03 M, which is attributed to improved grain size and reduction in the defect levels.     

Physical investigations on Sb2S3 sprayed thin film for optoelectronic applications

Sb₂S₃ thin films have been obtained at 250 °C on glass substrates using the spray pyrolysis techniques. The structural study by means of XRD analysis shows that Sb₂S₃ thin film crystallized in the orthorhombic phase. The discussion of some structural constants has been made by means of both XRD and AFM investigations. Moreover, the optical analysis via the transmittance and the reflectance measurements reveals that Sb₂S₃ sprayed thin film has a direct transition with the band gap energy E_g equal to 1.72 eV. The analysis in 300–2500 nm domain of the refractive index data through Wemple–DiDomenico model leads to the single oscillator energy (E₀=2.32 eV), and the dispersion energy (E_d=10.03 eV). The electrical study leads to the dc activation energy is of the order of 0.72 eV and the maximum barrier high is W_M=0.87 eV. From the power exponent variation in terms of the heated temperature, it is found that the mechanism of conduction matches well the correlated barrier hopping CBH model.     

Optical and electrochromic properties of annealed lithium-molybdenum-bronze thin films

Optical band gaps, Urbach inverse slopes, and coloration bands of various samples of annealed, microcrystalline Li_xMoO₃-bronze thin films in the concentration range 0<x<0.6 were determined over the photon energy range from 0.4 eV to 4.2 eV. On investigation, it is learned that the measured, optical band gaps do not shift rigidly over the annealing temperature range 293≤T≤423 K and, therefore, do not reveal the Burstein-Moss effect or reflect any stable, crystallographic phase transformation during any investigated annealing cycle. A model relating the temperature-dependent optical gap to the real part of the refractive index has also been developed, and this model fits very well to the annealed data within a maximum error of about 20%. Next, using an oscillator model, a phonon energy of ∼0.08 eV was obtained, which is very close to the characteristic phonon energy of the material, MoO₃. Using this model, it becomes more certain that the contributions to the Urbach absorption edge for the annealed-molybdenum bronzes are coming from the structural and compositional disorder. In another finding, it was found that the absorption-peak energy for the annealed data was about 1.5–1.6 eV, which is still broad and asymmetrical, and therefore, it is almost of the Mo⁶⁺ (or Mo⁴⁺)-Mo⁵⁺ intervalence or polaronic type. Using the polaron model, the half-bandwidth of the coloration bands of investigated, annealed Li_xMoO₃-thin films was found to be almost constant, which is consistent with the nonrigid band behavior.     

Utilization of hole trapping effect of aromatic amines to convert polymer semiconductor from ambipolar into n-type

In this study, we added several aromatic amine compounds as dopants to an ambipolar polymer semiconductor, PDBTAZ, and studied the charge transport behavior of the doped polymer thin films in organic thin film transistors. The trap energy (E_T), which is the HOMO energy difference between the amine dopant and the polymer, was found related to the hole transport suppression effect of these amines. For an amine with E_T < 0.25 eV, at a 2% dopant concentration, little changes in the hole transport characteristics of the doped polymer films were observed. In contrast, for an amine with E_T > 0.25 eV, complete hole transport suppression was realized. This study offers a useful approach to converting an ambipolar polymer semiconductor into a unipolar n-type polymer semiconductor.     

Effect of oxygen on the properties of encapsulated polycrystalline CdSe films

This paper presents a comprehensive study of the effects of annealing silicon dioxide encapsulated CdSe films in oxygen on the microstructure, resistivity, photosensitivity and energy levels. The energy levels were investigated by using the independent methods of thermally stimulated current, photocurrent spectral response, and Hall measurements. The film structure is wurtzite with grains of average size 0.35 μm, which extend through the thickness of the films. Annealing the films in oxygen at 450°C increases the resistivity from 10 ohm cm to 10⁶ ohm cm. The electron mobility, which has an activation energy of 0.08 eV, remains constant at about 100 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ during the anneal steps. The change in the resistivity is due to a combination of thermal rearrangement and oxygen diffusing uniformly into the films. Various energy levels ranging from 0.11 eV to 1.3 eV were detected and the density of all these decreased on annealing.     

Dislocation-Induced deep level states in In0.08Ga0.92As/GaAs heterostructures

We have performed luminescence experiments on In_0.08Ga_0.92As/GaAs heterointerfaces to explore the energy distribution of deep level states in the bandgap for two cases: (1) unrelaxed, pseudomorphic In_0.08Ga_0.92As films (200Å thick), which have few if any dislocations at the interface, and (2) partially relaxed In_0.08Ga_0.92As films (1000Å thick) which are expected to have a substantial interfacial dislocation density. A combined photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence technique is used which allows us to profile the sample luminescence through the buried interface region. Our results show the existence of deep level luminescent features characteristic of the GaAs substrate and features common to In_0.08Ga_0.92As and GaAs, as well as the existence of a deep level feature near 1 eV photon energy which undergoes a shift in energy depending upon the degree of strain relaxation in the In_0.08Ga_0.92As film. In addition, a deep level feature near 0.83 eV becomes prominent only in In_0.08Ga_0.92As films which have relaxed, and thus contain misfit dislocations at the interface. These deep level differences may be due to bandgap states associated with the intrinsic dislocation structure, impurities segregated at the dislocation, or bulk point defects, or threading dislocations generated during the strain relaxation. Previous work has determined that a deep level state 0.7 eV above the valence band edge would account for the electrical behavior of relaxed In_0.08Ga_0.92As/GaAs interfaces, which is in good agreement with the range of deep level transitions near 0.8 eV photon energy which we observe. These measurements suggest that photo- and cathodoluminescence measurements of deep level emission in these III-V semiconductors can provide a useful indicator of electrically active defect densities associated with misfit dislocations.     

Chemical compositions and optical properties of HfOxNy thin films at different substrate temperatures

High-k HfO_xN_y thin films have been grown by radio frequency (rf) reactive sputtering of metal Hf target in N₂/Ar/O₂ ambient at different substrate temperatures. The chemical compositions of the films have been investigated as a function of substrate temperature by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XPS measurements showed that nitrogen concentration increases with an increase in substrate temperature. Room-temperature spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) with photon energy 0.75–6.5 eV was used to investigate the optical properties of the films. SE results demonstrated that refractive index n increases with an increase in substrate temperature. Based on TL parameters which were obtained from the best fit results used in a simulation of the measured spectra, meanwhile, we conclude that the energy band gap (E_g) decreases with an increase in substrate temperature.     

P-type doping of organic wide band gap materials by transition metal oxides: A case-study on Molybdenum trioxide

A study on p-doping of organic wide band gap materials with Molybdenum trioxide using current transport measurements, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy and inverse photoelectron spectroscopy is presented. When MoO₃ is co-evaporated with 4,4′-Bis(N-carbazolyl)-1,1′-biphenyl (CBP), a significant increase in conductivity is observed, compared to intrinsic CBP thin films. This increase in conductivity is due to electron transfer from the highest occupied molecular orbital of the host molecules to very low lying unfilled states of embedded Mo₃O₉ clusters. The energy levels of these clusters are estimated by the energy levels of a neat MoO₃ thin film with a work function of 6.86 eV, an electron affinity of 6.7 eV and an ionization energy of 9.68 eV. The Fermi level of MoO₃-doped CBP and N,N′-bis(1-naphtyl)-N,N′-diphenyl-1,1′-biphenyl-4,4′-diamine (α-NPD) thin films rapidly shifts with increasing doping concentration towards the occupied states. Pinning of the Fermi level several 100 meV above the HOMO edge is observed for doping concentrations higher than 2 mol% and is explained in terms of a Gaussian density of HOMO states. We determine a relatively low dopant activation of ～0.5%, which is due to Coulomb-trapping of hole carriers at the ionized dopant sites.     

Spectroscopic ellipsometry characterization of ZrO2 thin films by nitrogen-assisted reactive magnetron sputtering

Spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) with photon energy 0.75–6.5 eV at room temperature has been used to derive the optical properties of high-k ZrO₂ thin films on Si(1 0 0) substrates prepared by nitrogen-assisted, direct current reactive magnetron sputtering. The Tauc–Lorentz dispersion method was adopted to model the optical dispersion functions of the thin films as a function of annealing temperature. Excellent agreement has been found between the SE fitting results and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results, indicating that our model adequately described the measured SE data. Optical band gaps (E_g) were also obtained based on the extracted absorption edge. Our results suggest that nitrogen-assisted process can effectively limit the interfacial layer growth in high-k oxides.     

Shallow and Deep Centers in As-Grown and Annealed MgZnO/ZnO Structures with Quantum Wells

Shallow and deep centers in ZnO(P)/MgZnO/ZnO/MgZnO/ZnO(Ga) structures grown by pulsed laser deposition on sapphire were studied before and after annealing in oxygen atmosphere at high temperatures of 850°C to 950°C. In both as-grown and annealed structures, microcathodoluminescence spectra in the near-bandgap region demonstrate a blue-shift by 0.13 eV compared with bulk ZnO films, indicating carrier confinement in the MgZnO/ZnO/MgZnO quantum well (QW). Annealing strongly decreases the concentration of shallow uncompensated donors from ~10¹⁷ cm⁻³ to ~10¹⁶ cm⁻³ and makes it possible to probe the region of the QW by capacitance–voltage (C–V) profiling. This profiling confirms charge accumulation in the QW. The dominant electron traps in the as-grown films are the well-known traps with activation energies of 0.3 eV and 0.8 eV. After annealing, the electron traps observed in the structure have activation energies of 0.14 eV, 0.33 eV, and 0.57 eV, with the Fermi level in the n-ZnO(P) pinned by the 0.14-eV traps. The annealing also introduces deep compensating defects that decrease the intensity of band-edge luminescence and produce a deep luminescence defect band at 2.2 eV. In addition, a defect vibrational band becomes visible in Raman spectra near 650 cm⁻¹. No conversion to p-type conductivity was detected. The results are compared with the data for the structures successfully converted to p-type, and possible reasons for the observed differences are discussed.     

Study of some physical properties of ultrasonically spray deposited silver doped lead sulphide thin films

In this study, undoped and Ag doped PbS thin films at different concentrations were deposited onto glass substrates at 225 °C by using ultrasonic spray pyrolysis technique, in order to investigate the effect of Ag doping on the physical properties of PbS thin films. Structural investigations revealed that all doped PbS:Ag thin films have cubic structure and Ag doping enhances crystalline level of PbS thin films. It was determined that average crystallite size of PbS:Ag thin films increased from 24 nm to 49 nm by increasing Ag doping concentration. Morphological studies showed that surfaces of the films become denser after Ag doping. Optical transmittance and absorption spectra revealed that all deposited thin films have low transmission and high absorbance within the visible region and band gap energy of the PbS:Ag thin films were determined to be in the range of 1.37 eV and 1.28 eV by means of optical method. Electrical conductivity type of PbS:Ag films was determined to be p-type and calculated electrical resistivity was found to be lowest for Ag-doped PbS thin films at 2%.     

Efficiency limit of excitonic photovoltaic cells under phosphor-based white LED illumination

The limit of energy conversion of excitonic photovoltaic cells working under white light illumination generated by phosphor-based LED is analysed using the modified Giebink approach. Particularly, the impact of the optical energy gap and energy loss associated with the excitons dissociation at the heterojunction interface on power conversion efficiency of the device are discussed. From the results of our study it follows that the optimal optical energy gap value of organic materials equals 1.87–1.91 eV for the cool light and 1.80–1.82 eV for the warm light. The value of maximum power efficiency reaches 50%, if the energy loss related to excitons dissociation at the interface ED/EA is smaller than 0.3 eV and it decreases up to 40%, if the energy loss reaches the value of 0.5 eV. The obtained results reveal the direction of further improvement of efficiency of organic photovoltaic solar cells for indoor applications.