Study of pulsed laser deposited antimony selenide thin films

Growth of Sb2Se3 thin films via pulsed laser deposition technique using presynthesized ball-milled Sb2Se3 compound material as a source has been attempted in this work. Films were grown at room temperature and at a substrate temperature of 320 °C. The films grown at 320 °C showed a crystalline orientation along (020). Raman studies confirmed Sb2Se3 phase formation along with the presence of Sb2O3 for films grown at 320 °C that was followed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, which indicated the presence of oxide formation, wherein the identified valence states of Sb and Se confirmed the compositional stoichiometry. Optical transmittance studies yielding a bandgap of ~ 1.29 eV matched with reported values and the absorption values were of the order of ~ 106 cm−1 in the visible region. Scanning electron microscopy showed the morphology of Sb2Se3 grown at 320 °C having a surface devoid of cracks and the cross-section SEM showed the film having a thickness of ~ 1 µm. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy of films grown at 320 °C showed near stoichiometric compositional values with slight selenium deficiency. Resistivity was calculated using a two-point probe method that showed a value of ~ 6 × 108 Ω-cm for Sb2Se3 films grown at 320 °C. Hot point probe measurement showed the film to be a p-type semiconductor.