Structural, optical, and electrical properties of e-beam deposited metamaterials of granular CdSe thin films on glass substrates with a thin buffer layer of HfO2 dielectric

Abstract

Structural, optical, and electrical properties of granular thin films of CdSe deposited on HfO2 dielectric layer are reported. The thin films were deposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) coated glass substrates by e-beam evaporation technique. Structural analysis revealed the amorphous nature of the HfO2, whereas wurtzite type hexagonal crystal structure was observed in the CdSe thin films. Microstructural analysis showed the granular nature of both the deposited layers. The optical and electrical properties of the thin films were studied in detail. The dielectric properties of the deposited layers were studied in correlation with their microstructure. The appearance of negative permittivity (NP) in the films indicates towards metamaterial type characteristics which has various potential applications viz. high permittivity capacitors, microwave filters, coil free resonators, and thin film transistors (TFTs).