Thickness Effect on Some Physical Properties of RF Sputtered ZnTe Thin Films for Potential Photovoltaic Applications
| Autor: | Sorina Iftimie, Antoniu Moldovan, Stefan Antohe, Vlad-Andrei Antohe, Mirela Petruta Suchea, Dumitru Manica, Rovena Pascu, Lucian Ion |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
thickness effect
Materials science Zinc telluride Band gap business.industry General Chemical Engineering rf-magneton sputtering Surface finish Sputter deposition Article chemistry.chemical_compound Chemistry ZnTe Surface-area-to-volume ratio chemistry thin films surface metrology Surface metrology Ellipsometry Optoelectronics General Materials Science Thin film AFM business QD1-999 |
| Zdroj: | Nanomaterials, Vol 11, Iss 2286, p 2286 (2021) Nanomaterials Volume 11 Issue 9 |
| ISSN: | 2079-4991 |
| Popis: | Zinc telluride thin films with different thicknesses were grown onto glass substrates by the rf magnetron sputtering technique, using time as a variable growth parameter. All other deposition process parameters were kept constant. The deposited thin films with thickness from 75 to 460 nm were characterized using X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, ellipsometry, and UV-Vis spectroscopy, to evaluate their structures, surface morphology, topology, and optical properties. It was found out that the deposition time increase leads to a larger growth rate. This determines significant changes on the ZnTe thin film structures and their surface morphology. Characteristic surface metrology parameter values varied, and the surface texture evolved with the thickness increase. Optical bandgap energy values slightly decreased as the thickness increased, while the mean grains radius remained almost constant at ~9 nm, and the surface to volume ratio of the films decreased by two orders of magnitude. This study is the first (to our knowledge) that thoroughly considered the correlation of film thickness with ZnTe structuring and surface morphology characteristic parameters. It adds value to the existing knowledge regarding ZnTe thin film fabrication, for various applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices, including photovoltaics. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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