Electrical conductivity, photoconductivity and gas sensitivity of Ge-Se-Te thin films

Abstract

Films of GexSeyTez (x≈33) with a thickness of 0.8 μm and four different compositions were prepared by thermal evaporation of preliminary synthesized glasses. The glass and film compositions were determined by Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction measurements have confirmed the amorphous structure of both bulk and thin film samples. The temperature dependence of the dark conductivity has been measured in the range 20 – 110 °C. No significant change of the room temperature conductivity (around 5x10-7 S/cm) and the dark current activation energy (around 0.7 eV) have been observed with increasing z. Spectral photocurrent measurements have revealed that the increase of Te content results in: (i) a photoconductivity decrease and (ii) a red shift of the low-energy side of the spectrum which indicates an optical band gap decrease. Resistive chemical sensing tests carried out at room temperature with ammonia, acetone, ethanol or water vapours in air as carrying gas have shown that the Ge32Se55Te13 films are sensitive to ammonia but not to water vapour and hence they are suitable for selective ammonia sensors operating at room temperature. The observed sensitivity is related to the specific lattice structure of the region nearest to the film surface.