scholarly journals Thickness Effect on Some Physical Properties of RF Sputtered ZnTe Thin Films for Potential Photovoltaic Applications

Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2286
Author(s):  
Dumitru Manica ◽  
Vlad-Andrei Antohe ◽  
Antoniu Moldovan ◽  
Rovena Pascu ◽  
Sorina Iftimie ◽  
...  

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.

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 87-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.S.P Sarah ◽  
F.S. Zahid ◽  
M.Z. Musa ◽  
U.M. Noor ◽  
Z. Shaameri ◽  
...  

The photoconductivity of a nanocomposite MEH-PPV:TiO2 thin film is investigated. The nanocomposite MEH-PPV:TiO2 thin film was deposited on a glass substrate by spin coating technique. The composition of the TiO2 powder was varied from 5 wt% to 20 wt% (with 5 wt% interval). The concentration of the MEH-PPV is given by 1 mg/1 ml. The current voltage characteristics were measured in dark and under illumination. The photoconductivity showed increment in value as the composition of the TiO2 is raised in the polymer based solution. The absorption showed augmentation as the amount of TiO2 is increased. The escalation of the current voltage is then supported by the results of surface morphology.


2021 ◽  
Vol 902 ◽  
pp. 65-70
Author(s):  
Samar Aboulhadeed ◽  
Mohsen Ghali ◽  
Mohamad M. Ayad

We report on a development of the structural, optical and electrical properties of poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly (styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) conducting polymer thin films. The PEDOT:PSS thin films were deposited by a controlled thin film applicator and their physical properties were found to be effectively modified by isopropanol. The deposited films were investigated by several techniques including XRD, UV–Vis, SPM and Hall-effect. Interestingly, by optimizing the PEDOTS:PSS/ISO volume ratio (v:v), we find that the film charge carriers type can be switched from p to n-type with a high bulk carriers concentration reaching 6×1017 cm-3. Moreover, the film surface roughness becomes smoother and reaching a small value of only 1.9 nm. Such development of the PEDOT:PSS film properties makes it very promising to act as an electron transport layer for different energy applications.


2011 ◽  
Vol 335-336 ◽  
pp. 1418-1423
Author(s):  
De Yin Zhang ◽  
Wei Qian ◽  
Kun Li ◽  
Jian Sheng Xie

The Ion Beam Enhanced Deposited (IBED) lithium tantalate (LiTaO3) thin film samples with Al/LiTaO3/Pt electrode structure were prepared on the Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si(100) and SiO2/Si(100) substrate respectively. The crystallization, surface morphology, ferroelectric property, and fatigue property of the prepared samples with the different annealed processes were investigated. The XRD measured results show that the prepared samples have the polycrystal structure of LiTaO3 with the preferred orientation of <012> and <104> located at the 2θ of 23.60 and 32.70 respectively. The SEM morphology analysis reveals the prepared film annealed at 550°C is uniform, smooth and crack-free on the surface and cross section. The ferroelectric property measured results show that the remanent polarization Pr of the samples annealed at different temperature almost increase with the electric field intensity stronger. The leakage current makes the hysteresis loop of the samples subjected to a strong measured electric filed difficult to appear the same saturation hysteresis loop as the single-crystal LiTaO3. The prepared samples annealed at 550°C have a Pr value of 11.5μC/cm2 when subjected to the electrical field of 400kV/cm. The breakdown voltage of the 587nm thick thin film sample is high as to 680 kV/cm. The fatigue property measured results show only 15.17% Pr drop of the prepared films annealed at 550°C appear after 5×1010 cycles polarized by the 10MHz sinusoidal signal with the peak-to-peak amplitude of 10 Volt. The ferroelectric properties of the prepared films meet the practical application requirements of charge response measurement of the LiTaO3 infrared detector owe to the Pr of the prepared films annealed at different temperature large beyond 10μC/cm2 when the prepared films subjected to a strong electric filed larger than 400 kV/cm. The experimental results also show that the surface morphology, the ferroelectric and fatigue properties of the IBED LiTaO3 thin films are significant better than those of the Sol-Gel derived LiTaO3 thin films.


Author(s):  
Dinesh Pathak ◽  
Sanjay Kumar ◽  
Sonali Andotra ◽  
Jibin Thomas ◽  
Navneet Kaur ◽  
...  

In this study, we have investigated new tailored organic semiconductors materials for the optoelectronic application, such as organic solar cells. The carbon-based organic semiconductor material has promising advantages in organic thin-film form. Moreover, due to its low cost, organic thin-films are suitable and cheaper than inorganic thin-film. The band gap of organic semiconductors materials can be tuned and mostly lies between 2.0eV to 4eV and the optical absorption edge of organic semiconductors typically lies in between 1.7eV to 3eV. They can be easily tailored by modifying the carbon chain and legends and looks promising for engineering the band gap to harness solar spectrum. In this work, with new tailored organic semiconductors the solution route is explored which is low cost processing method. (Anthracen-9-yl) methylene naphthalene-1-amine, 4-(anthracen-9-ylmethyleneamino)-1,5dimethyl-2-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-3-one and N-(anthracen-9-ylmethyl)-3,4-dimethoxyaniline thin-films are processed by spin coating method with changing concentration such as 0.05 wt% and 0.08 wt%. Thin films of Organic semiconductors were prepared on glass substrate and annealed at 55°C. The structural and optical behaviour of (Anthracen-9-yl) methylene naphthalene-1-amine, 4-(anthracen-9-ylmethyleneamino)-1,5dimethyl-2-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-3-one and N-(anthracen-9-ylmethyl)-3,4-dimethoxyaniline organic semiconductors thin films is studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV-Visible Spectroscopy technique. The XRD data of synthesized sample suggests the Nano crystallinity of the Organic layers. The SEM micrographs shows the dense packing when we increase the wt% 0.05 to 0.08. Analysis of the optical absorption measurements found that the engineered band gap of synthesized thin films are 2.18eV, 2.35eV, 2.36eV, 2.52eV and 2.65eV which suggest suitability for applications of Optoelectronic devices such as solar cell. Such light weight, eco-friendly and disposable new carbon based materials seems to have potential to replace other traditional hazardous heavy materials for future eco-friendly flat fast electronics. Keywords: Thin-film, solar cell, tailored organic semiconductors, XRD, SEM, UV-Vis spectroscopy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (09) ◽  
pp. 1950203
Author(s):  
ALI AKHAVAN MAVARDIANI ◽  
MOHAMMAD BAGHER RAHMANI

In this experimental research, tungsten trioxide (WO3) thin films were deposited using ammonium tungstate ((NH4)2WO4) by a simple and cost-effective technique of spray pyrolysis on top of glass substrates. The surface morphology, structural and optical properties of prepared samples were studied using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern analysis and UV–Vis spectroscopy techniques, respectively. Studied deposition parameters were: substrate temperature (300, 350, 400, 450 and 500∘C), concentration of the precursor solution (0.01, 0.02, 0.04, 0.08, 0.1 and 0.2[Formula: see text]M), volume of the precursor solution (50, 100, 150 and 200[Formula: see text]mL) and the effect of pulsed spraying at different concentrations (0.01, 0.1 and 0.2[Formula: see text]M). FESEM images showed that the surface morphology has formed like nested micro-fibrous rings with a uniform distribution all over the surface. The XRD patterns revealed that increasing the solution concentration to 0.2[Formula: see text]M shows some peaks which can be attributed to WO3 with the hexagonal crystal structure. Transmission spectra of the samples indicate that all of the prepared samples are transparent in the visible range, with the calculated direct bandgap ranging from about 2.93[Formula: see text]eV to 3.96[Formula: see text]eV, depending on the deposition conditions.


Optik ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 199 ◽  
pp. 163517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahsa Etminan ◽  
Nooshin. S. Hosseini ◽  
Narges Ajamgard ◽  
Ataalah Koohian ◽  
Mehdi Ranjbar

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 1971-1977
Author(s):  
Jihye Kang ◽  
Dongsu Park ◽  
Donghun Lee ◽  
Masao Kamiko ◽  
Sung-Jin Kim ◽  
...  

In this research, alternative deposition process of ZnO-based thin films have been studied for transparent conducting oxide (TCO) application. To improve the electrical and optical properties of transparent oxide thin films, alternatively stacked Al-doped ZnO and In-doped ZnO thin films were investigated. Multilayer structure of alternative 6 layers of thin films were prepared in this research. Especially, Aluminum and Indium were chosen as dopant materials. Thin films of Al-doped ZnO (AZO) and In-doped ZnO (IZO) were alternatively deposited by spin coating with sol-gel method. After deposition of multilayered thin films, multi steps of furnace (F), rapid thermal annealing (R) and CO2 laser annealing (L) processes were carried out and investigated thin film properties by dependence of post-annealing sequence and thin film structures. The electrical and optical properties of thin films were investigated by 4-point probe and UV-vis spectroscopy and its shows the greatest sheet resistance value of 0.59 kΩ/sq. from AZO/IZO multilayered structure and upper 85% of transmittance. The structural property and surface morphology were measured by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The Al- and In-doped ZnO thin film shows the highest intensity value at (002) peak of AZO/IZO multilayer structure which was performed FRL process.


2016 ◽  
Vol 872 ◽  
pp. 147-151
Author(s):  
Chayangkoon Mangkornkarn ◽  
Benjarong Samransuksamer ◽  
Mati Horprathum ◽  
Pitak Eiamchai ◽  
Apiluck Eiad-Ua ◽  
...  

We reported on the influence of applied voltage on the surface morphology of anodic titanium dioxide (ATO) thin films. At first, titanium (Ti) thin films were prepared by DC-magnetron sputtering for use as a base material in the anodization process. The titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoporous ATO was fabricated by the anodization process from the Ti thin film, with different applied voltages from 20 V to 60 V in an electrolyte based on an ethylene glycol containing NH4F. Pore size distribution of ATO thin films can be varied from 20-50 nm by increasing the applied voltage, while the thickness of the film also increases. In addition, to observe the effect of time, the optimal condition of anodizing voltage was studied by increasing the anodizing time. The results clearly showed the nanoporous ATO over the films and the thickness of the nanoporous ATO is approximately 260 nm.


Author(s):  
Waqar Mahmood ◽  
Saif Ullah Awan ◽  
Amad Ud Din ◽  
Sajid Arif ◽  
Andrew Thomas ◽  
...  

Stabilized un-doped Zinc Telluride (ZnTe) thin films were grown on glass substrates under vacuum using closed space sublimation (CSS) technique. A dilute copper nitrate solution (0.1/100 ml) was prepared for copper doping known as ion exchange process in the matrix of ZnTe thin film. The reproducible polycrystalline cubic structure of undoped and Cu doped ZnTe thin films with preferred orientation (111) was confirmed by X-rays diffraction (XRD) technique. Lattice parameter analyses verified the expansion of unit cell volume after incorporation of Cu species into ZnTe thin films samples. The micrographs of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to measure the variation in crystal sizes of samples. The energy dispersive X-rays was used to validate the elemental composition of undoped and Cu-doped ZnTe thin films.&nbsp; The bandgap energy 2.24 eV of ZnTe thin film decreased after doping Cu to 2.20 eV may be due to the introduction of acceptors states near to valance band. &nbsp;Optical studies showed that refractive index was measured from 2.18 to 3.24 whereas thicknesses varied between 220 nm to 320 nm for un-doped and Cu doped ZnTe thin film respectively using Swanepoel model. The oxidation states of Zn+2, Te+2 and Cu+1 through high resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses was observed. The resistivity of thin films changed from ~107 &Omega;-cm for undoped ZnTe to ~1 &Omega;-cm for Cu-doped ZnTe thin film, whereas p-type carrier concentration increased from to &nbsp;respectively. These results predicted that Cu-doped ZnTe thin film can be used as an ideal, efficient and stable intermediate layer between metallic and absorber back contact for the heterojunction thin film solar cell technology.


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