Comparative Study on Structural and Optical Properties of Se85Te6Bi9 Nano-Thin Films Synthesized at Disparate Ambient Argon Pressures

Abstract

In this research work, we have synthesized amorphous Se85Te6Bi9 Chalcogenide Glasses (ChGs) using Melt Quenching Technique. The glassy nature of the synthesized specimen was confirmed by the DSC thermogram plotted at the heating rate of 20 K/min. The nano-thin films of such synthesized samples at two disparate working pressures (1 torr and 3 torr) of ambient argon gas were made using the Physical Vapour Condensation Technique on the ultrasonically cleaned glass substrates. During the synthesis process of nano-thin films substrate temperature (77 K) was kept constant using liquid nitrogen and the thickness of prepared thin films was 40 nm. The morphological analysis of the prepared nanochalcogenide thin films using FESEM confirmed the nanochalcogenide particle size ranges from 20–80 nm. More aggregation and reduction in particle size on the substrates were observed with an increase in working pressure for Se85Te6Bi9 nano-thin films. HRXRD pattern confirmed the amorphous nature of the synthesized nano-thin films. Based on UV-Visible spectroscopy, the optical parameters such as optical absorption coefficients, optical direct band gaps and extinction coefficients were measured for synthesized Se85Te6Bi9 nanochalcogenide thin films. The value of absorption coefficients and extinction coefficients increases with the increase of ambient argon pressure, whereas the value of the optical direct band gap increases with increasing working pressure due to the quantum size effect and dominance of coulombic interactions. The estimated value of optical direct band gaps are 1.37 eV and 1.47 eV at 1 Torr and 3 Torr respectively making our synthesized nano-thin films a preeminent candidate for solar cell applications and other photonic devices.