Structural and optical properties of thermally evaporated (GaSe)0.75 – (GaS)0.25 thin films

Abstract

GaSe and GaS binary semiconducting compounds are layered structured and have been an attractive research interest in two-dimensional material research area. The present paper aims at growing (GaSe)0.75 – (GaS)0.25 (or simply GaSe0.75S0.25) thin film and investigating its structural and optical properties. Thin films were prepared by thermal evaporation technique using evaporation source of its single crystal grown by Bridgman method. The structural properties were revealed using x-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. XRD pattern and EDS analyses indicated that thin films annealed at 300 °C were successfully deposited and its structural characteristics are well-consistent with its single crystal form. Surface morphology was studied by means of SEM and AFM measurements. Optical properties were investigated by transmission and Raman spectroscopy techniques. Raman spectrum exhibited three peaks around 172, 242 and 342 cm−1. Analyses of transmission spectrum revealed the direct band gap energy as 2.34 eV. The mixed compounds of GaSe0.75S0.25 were prepared for the first time in a thin film form and the results of the present paper would provide valuable information to research area in which layered compounds have been studied in detail.