AC conductivity,dielectric relaxation and modulus behavior of Sb2S2O new kermesite alloy for optoelectronic applications

In this work, we present some physical properties of Sb₂S₂O thin films obtained through heat treatment of Sb₂S₃ thin films under an atmospheric pressure at 350 °C. The electrical conductivity, dielectric properties and relaxation model of these thin films were studied using impedance spectroscopy technique in the frequency range from 5 Hz to 13 MHz at various temperatures from 350 °C to 425 °C. Besides, the frequency and temperature dependence of the complex impedance, AC conductivity and complex electric modulus has been investigated.     

Optical and ac conductivity investigations on Sn doped Ag2S thin films under the structural transition framework

This work deals with further optical and electrical investigations on Sn content in Ag₂S sprayed thin films and the beneficial effect of using this type of doping in addition to the results recently reported by R. Boughalmi, A. Boukhachem, I. Gaeid, K. Boubaker, M. Bouhafs, M. Amlouk, Mater. Sci. Semicond. Process. 16 (2013) 1584. The refractive index and extinction coefficient values in terms of Sn content were deduced from transmittance and reflectance data. Moreover, study of dielectric constants has been conducted; the dispersion parameters and high- frequency dielectric constant are determined. Finally, the electrical conductivity and conduction mechanism of these films are studied using an impedance spectroscopy technique in the frequency range 5 Hz–13 MHz at various temperatures (100–230 °C). Besides, the temperature dependence of ac conductivity measurements has been analyzed under the structural transition framework from β- to α-Ag₂S phases.     

Effect of tin content on the electrical and optical properties of sprayed silver sulfide semiconductor thin films

Silver sulfide (Ag₂S) thin films have been deposited on glass substrates by t spray pyrolysis using an aqueous solution which contains silver acetate and thiourea as precursors. The depositions were carried out at a substrate temperature of 250 °C. Structural studies by means of X-ray diffraction show that all tin (Sn)-doped Ag₂S thin films crystallized in a monoclinic space group with noticeable changes in the crystallites' orientation. The discussion of some structural calculated constants has been made with Sn doping in terms of microhardness measurements. Moreover, the optical analysis via the transmittance, reflectance as well as the photocurrent reveals that the direct band gap energy (E_gd) decreases (E_gd varies from 2.34 to 2.16 eV) and the indirect band gap energy (E_gi) increases (E_gi varies from 0.98 to 1.09 eV) slightly as a function of Sn content. Electrical study shows that Sn doping changes the electrical conductivity and proves the thermal activation of electrical conduction.     

Antimony sulfide (Sb2S3) thin films by pulse electrodeposition: Effect of thermal treatment on structural,optical and electrical properties

Antimony sulfide films have been deposited by pulse electrodeposition on Fluorine doped SnO₂ coated glass substrates from aqueous solutions containing SbCl₃ and Na₂S₂O₃. The crystalline structure of the films was characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and TEM analysis. The deposited films were amorphous and upon annealing in nitrogen/sulfur atmosphere at 250 °C for 30 min, the films started to become crystalline with X-ray diffraction pattern matching that of stibnite, Sb₂S₃, (JCPDS 6-0474). AFM images revealed that Sb₂S₃ films have uniformly distributed grains on the surface and the grain agglomeration occurs with annealing. The optical band gap calculated from the transmittance and the reflectance studies were 2.2 and 1.65 eV for as deposited and 300 °C annealed films, respectively. The annealed films were photosensitive and exhibited photo-to-dark current ratio of two orders of magnitude at 1 kW/m² tungsten halogen radiation.     

Structural properties of FeTe2 thin films synthesized by tellurization of amorphous iron oxide thin films

This paper deals with the structural properties of FeTe₂ thin films obtained using a simple and non-toxic experimental procedure. First, iron oxide thin films have been prepared by the spray pyrolysis technique from an aqueous solution containing FeCl₃6H₂O (0.03 M) as a precursor onto glass substrates heated at 623 K. Second, these films were subjected to a heat treatment under tellurium atmosphere at various temperatures (723–803 K) for 24 h. XRD analysis revealed that FeTe₂-ortorombic phase films were obtained at a heat treatment of the order of 773 K. This film has a good crystalline state with a preferential orientation of the crystallites along (111) direction. Moreover, AFM as well as SEM morphological observations show a relatively perturbed surface state.To date, this simple and low cost route process to obtained FeTe₂ thin films has not yet been used.     

Properties of In2O3 films obtained by thermal oxidation of sprayed In2S3

In₂S₃ thin films were grown by the chemical spray pyrolysis (CSP) method using indium chloride and thiourea as precursors at a molar ratio of S:In=2.5. The deposition was carried out at 350 °C on quartz substrates. The film thickness is about 1 µm. The films were then annealed for 2 h at 550, 600, 650 and 700 °C in oxygen flow. This process allows the transformation of nanocrystal In₂O₃ from In₂S₃ and the reaction is complete at 600 °C. X-ray diffraction spectra show that In₂O₃ films are polycrystalline with a cubic phase and preferentially oriented towards (222). The film grain size increases from 19 to 25 nm and RMS values increase from 9 to 30 nm. In₂O₃ films exhibit transparency over 70–85% in the visible and infrared regions due to the thickness and crystalline properties of the films. The optical band gap is found to vary in the range 3.87–3.95 eV for direct transitions. Hall effect measurements at room temperature show that resistivity is decreased from 117 to 27 Ω cm. A carrier concentration of 1×10¹⁶ cm^?3 and mobility of about 117 cm² V^?1 s^?1 are obtained at 700 °C.     

Resistive switching behavior of Sb2S3 thin film prepared by chemical bath deposition

The chalcogenides are the excellent memristor materials. Here we report the resistive switching properties of an amorphous Sb₂S₃ thin film. Sb₂S₃ films were deposited on FTO glass using a low-temperature (10 °C) chemical bath deposition technique. SEM and XRD results indicate that the as-grown Sb₂S₃ film is dense and amorphous with uniform thickness and smooth surface. The Ag/Sb₂S₃/FTO memristor shows typical bipolar switching behavior with low operating voltage, high resistance ratio, long retention time, and good endurance. The electrical tests demonstrate that the switching behavior of the amorphous Sb₂S₃ film is based on electrochemical metallization mechanisms.     

Solution flow rate influence on properties of copper oxide thin films deposited by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

The present work is an investigation of the solution flow rate influence on copper oxide (CuO) thin film properties deposited by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis. A set of CuO thin films were deposited, with various solution flow rates, on glass substrate at 300 °C. The precursor solution is formed with copper salt dissolution in distilled water with 0.05 molarity. The solution flow rate was ranged from 10 to 30 ml/h. Films composition and structure were characterized by means of XRD (X Rays diffraction) and Raman scattering. The optical properties were studied using UV–visible spectroscopy. The electrical conductivity, carrier mobility and concentration were determined by Hall Effect measurements. The obtained results indicate that flow rate is a key parameter controlling CuO films growth mechanism and their physical properties. The prepared films are mainly composed with a CuO monophase, the crystallite size is reduced with increasing the flow rate. A ZnO/CuO heterojunction structure has been realized and its rectifying behavior is tested.     

Influences of post-annealing temperature on the structural and electrical properties of mixed oxides (CuFeO2 and CuFe2O4) thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis technique

P-type mixed oxides (CuFeO₂ and CuFe₂O₄) transparent conducting thin films have been successfully deposited on p-type Si (111) substrates at 450 °C by spray pyrolysis deposition (SPD) and annealed at 800 °C for 2 h. The crystal structure, surface morphology and electrical property have been investigated. It is observed that the CuFeO₂ and CuFe₂O₄ thin films as deposited and annealed, have polycrystalline hexagonal structure and the crystallite size increases by annealing processes. The electrical property of the Ni/CuFeO₂/Si Metal–Semiconductor–Metal (MSM) photo detectors was investigated using the current–voltage (I–V) measurements. The barrier heights ϕ_Β of Ni/CuFeO₂/Ni MSM thin films of as deposited and annealed on Si substrates were calculated and its values are 0.478, 0.345 eV, respectively with an applied bias voltage of 3 V.     

Elaboration and characterization of Co-doped ZnO thin films deposited by spray pyrolysis technique

The structure and the nature of magnetism of ZnO and Zn_1−xCo_xO (CZO) thin films (0?x?0.09) deposited on glass substrate at 450 °C by spray pyrolysis technique is investigated. All the CZO thin films have the ZnO wurtzite structure with a preferential orientation along the c-axis and had no impurity phase. This was also confirmed by transmission electron microscopy analysis. Transmission UV-visible spectroscopy showed that Co²⁺ was well substituted for the Zn²⁺ ions in the ZnO matrix. Magnetization measurements at low temperature show that CZO thin films present a paramagnetic behaviour and no sign of ferromagnetism.     

Effect of Bi doping on the properties of CdSe thin films for optoelectronic device applications

CdSe and Bi (1%, 2%, 3%) doped CdSe thin films were deposited on the glass substrates using thermal evaporation technique. Effect of Bi doping on the structural, optical, electrical and photo response properties of CdSe thin films were investigated. The X-ray diffraction studies reveals that undoped and Bi doped CdSe films are polycrystalline in nature with hexagonal crystal structure along (002) direction. No significant changes are observed in the lattice parameters or the grain size indicating minimum lattice distortion. The optical band gap of undoped CdSe film was estimated to be 1.67 eV. Replacement of cadmium by bismuth results in an increase in the electrical conductivity of doped films. Doping with bismuth is found to improve the photo sensitivity of CdSe thin films.     

Gap states density measurement in copper oxide thin films

The density of gap states near the Fermi level have been measured in copper oxide (CuO) thin films deposited by spray pyrolysis technique. The measurement method is based on the exploitation of the current–voltage characteristics of the space charge limited current (SCLC) measured in a sandwich Au/CuO/Au structure. The measured gap states density is equal to 1.5×10¹⁴ cm⁻³ and 2.0×10¹⁴ eV⁻¹ respectively in films prepared at 300 and 400 °C substrate temperature, while the defect position are located at 16 and 20 meV above Fermi level. The carriers mobility and concentration are also determined from SCLC, the obtained results are in good agreement with Hall effect measurement ones.     

Influence of Mn doping on structural,optical and electrical properties of CdO thin films prepared by cost effective spray pyrolysis method

Transparent and conducting cadmium oxide (CdO) and manganese doped CdO (Mn: CdO) thin films were deposited using a low cost spray pyrolysis method on the glass substrate at 300 °C. For Mn doping, various concentrations of manganese acetate (1–3 wt%) was used in the spraying precursor solution. The structural, electrical and optical properties of CdO and Mn: CdO films were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), UV–vis and Hall measurement. X-ray diffraction study reveals that the CdO and Mn: CdO films are possessing cubic crystal structures. SEM and AFM studies reveal that the grain size and roughness of the films are increased with increasing Mn doping concentration. Optical transmittance spectra of the CdO film decreases with increasing doping concentration of manganese. The optical band gap of the films decreases from 2.42 eV to 2.08 eV with increasing concentration of manganese. A minimum resistivity of 1.11×10⁻³ Ω cm and maximum mobility of 20.77 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ is achieved for 1 wt% of manganese doping.     

Sensing characteristics of zinc oxide thin films deposited by spray pyrolysis onto tubular Pyrex substrate

This paper presents NO₂ sensing properties of ZnO thin films grown onto tubular Pyrex substrate using the spray pyrolysis method. The sensor response was found to depend essentially on four parameters: chemical composition, structure, morphology and operating temperature. The crystallinity and morphology of the as-preapred films were analyzed using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The sensing properties of ZnO toward NO₂ were investigated at different operating temperatures and NO₂ concentrations. Optimization of the preparation conditions show that ZnO thin film deposited during 15 min exhibit the highest sensitivity with fast response and recovery time.     

Atomic layer deposition of ZnO on graphene for thin film transistor

A ZnO/graphene composite thin film was obtained by depositing ZnO on graphene through an Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) process. The graphene layer was synthesized through a Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) process. The achievement of ZnO deposition on graphene was attributed to the Perylene Tetracarboxylic Acid (PTCA) treatment on graphene. Both ZnO Thin Film Transistor (TFT) and ZnO/graphene TFT were fabricated and tested. The results show that both of them displayed a high ON/OFF ratio, while ZnO/graphene TFT displayed an enhanced carrier mobility over ZnO TFT.     

Aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition of Sb2S3 thin films: Environmentally benign solar energy material

Antimony sulfide (Sb₂S_3, stibnite) is an important environmentally benign material which finds applications in solar cells, thermoelectric devices, switching devices, microwaves and television cameras. Orthorhombic (stibnite) Sb₂S₃ thin films have been deposited by Aerosol-Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition (AACVD), spin coating, melt and the doctor's blade methods using tris(thiobenzoato)antimony(III) complex as a single source precursor. The p-XRD pattern of thin films deposited by all the methods show the deposition of Sb₂S₃ (stibnite). The morphology of the films is typically based on sheets, thick plates or bundles of sticks with varying sizes depending on the technique used and/or the deposition temperature. The EDX analysis showed that the films deposited at all temperatures by all methods are antimony rich. The band gaps of the films deposited by AACVD range from 1.81 to 1.90 eV.     

The effect of annealing on the physical properties of thermally evaporated CuIn2n+1S3n+2 thin films (n=0, 1, 2 and 3)

In this study, the annealing effect on structural, electrical and optical properties of CuIn_2n+1S_3n+2 thin films (n=0, 1, 2 and 3) are investigated. CuIn_2n+1S_3n+2 films were elaborated by vacuum thermal evaporation and annealed at 150 and 250 °C during 2 h in air atmosphere. XRD data analysis shows that CuInS₂ and CuIn₃S₅ (n=0 and 1) crystallize in the chalcopyrite structure according to a preferential direction (112), CuIn₅S₈ and CuIn₇S₁₁ (n=2 and 3) crystallize in the cubic spinel structure with a preferential direction (311). The optical characterization allowed us to determine the optical constants (refractive indexes 2.2–3.1, optical thicknesses 250–500 nm, coefficients of absorption 10⁵ cm^?1, coefficients of extinction <1, and the values of the optical transitions 1.80–2.22 eV) of the samples of all materials. We exploited the models of Cauchy, Wemple–DiDomenico and Spitzer–Fan for the analysis of the dispersion of the refractive index and the determination of the optical and dielectric constants.     

Influence of pH of spray solution on optoelectronic properties of cadmium oxide thin films

Highly conducting transparent cadmium oxide thin films were prepared by the conventional spray pyrolysis technique. The pH of the spray solution is varied by adding ammonia/hydrochloric acid. The effect of pH on the morphology, crystallinity and optoelectronic properties of these films is studied. The structural analysis showed all the films in the cubic phase. For the films with pH < 7(acidic condition), the preferred orientation is along the(111) direction and for those with pH >7(alkaline condition), the preferred orientation is along the(200) direction.A lowest resistivity of 9.9104 cm(with carrier concentration D5.11020cm3, mobility D12.4 cm2/(V s))is observed for pH12. The resistivity is tuned almost by three orders of magnitude by controlling the bath pH with optical transmittance more than 70%. Thus, the electrical conductivity of CdO films could be easily tuned by simply varying the pH of the spray solution without compromising the optical transparency.     

Effects of Sb,Zn doping on structural,electrical and optical properties of SnO2 thin films

Highly transparent, low resistive pure and Sb, Zn doped nanostructured SnO₂ thin films have been successfully prepared on glass substrates at 400° C by spray pyrolysis method. Structural, electrical and optical properties of pure and Sb, Zn doped SnO₂ thin films are studied in detail. Powder X-ray diffraction confirms the phase purity, increase in crystallinity, size of the grains (90–45 nm), polycrystalline nature and tetragonal rutile structure of thin films. The scanning electron microscopy reveals the continuous change in surface morphology of thin films and size of the grains decrease due to Sb, Zn doping in to SnO₂. The optical transmission spectra of SnO₂ films as a function of wavelength confirm that the optical transmission increases with Sb, Zn doping remarkably. The optical band gap of undoped film is found to be 4.27 eV and decreases with Sb, Zn doping to 4.19 eV, 4.07 eV respectively. The results of electrical measurements indicate that the sheet resistance of the deposited films improves with Sb, Zn doping. The Hall measurements confirm that the films are degenerate n-type semiconductors.     

Structural and optoelectronic properties of nanostructured TiO2 thin films with annealing

About 480 nm thick titanium oxide (TiO₂) thin films have been deposited by electron beam evaporation followed by annealing in air at 300–600 °C with a step of 100 °C for a period of 2 h. Optical, electrical and structural properties are studied as a function of annealing temperature. All the films are crystalline (having tetragonal anatase structure) with small amount of amorphous phase. Crystallinity of the films improves with annealing at elevated temperatures. XRD and FESEM results suggest that the films are composed of nanoparticles of 25–35 nm. Raman analysis and optical measurements suggest quantum confinement effects since Raman peaks of the as-deposited films are blue-shifted as compared to those for bulk TiO₂ Optical band gap energy of the as-deposited TiO₂ film is 3.24 eV, which decreases to about 3.09 eV after annealing at 600 °C. Refractive index of the as-deposited TiO₂ film is 2.26, which increases to about 2.32 after annealing at 600 °C. However the films annealed at 500 °C present peculiar behavior as their band gap increases to the highest value of 3.27 eV whereas refractive index, RMS roughness and dc-resistance illustrate a drop as compared to all other films. Illumination to sunlight decreases the dc-resistance of the as-deposited and annealed films as compared to dark measurements possibly due to charge carrier enhancement by photon absorption.