Investigation of Physical Properties of Nanostructured Selenium-Based Compound Semiconductors

Abstract

The study of physical properties of compound semiconductors plays a vital role in the device fabrication point of view. Different investigations suggest that one can tune these properties by impurity dopants, irradiation techniques, adopting different synthesis techniques, etc. In this study, the physical properties of nanostructured thin films of Se–S compound were tuned by different Hg dopant concentrations. X-ray diffraction spectra clarify the preferred crystallite growth occurs in the cubic phase of the corresponding Bravi’s crystal system. The particle size calculated from Bragg’s reflection spectra by using Scherrer’s analytical formula illustrates an enhancement of crystallite size in highly concentrated Hg-doped sample. Similar consequences are found in surface morphological micrographs. The optical band gap reduced from 1.65[Formula: see text]eV to 1.54[Formula: see text]eV on increasing the doping concentration of Hg, according to the computed optical parameters using optical transmission spectra in the wavelength range 200–1100[Formula: see text]nm. The thin-film refractive index dispersion data fits well in accordance with the single oscillator model. Investigation of electrical properties tells that there is significant improvement in electrical conductivity in highly concentrated Hg-doped samples. Therefore, the apparent tuning as observed in the physical properties of the investigated material may have practical uses in industry for a variety of optoelectronic devices.