Substrate Temperature-Dependent Physical Properties of Thermally Evaporated Sn4Sb6S13 Thin Films

Abstract

In this work, the homogenous thin films of sulfosalt Sn4Sb6S13 were successfully synthesized by the thermal evaporation technique onto corning 7059 glass substrates heated at various temperatures in the range of 30–200 °C. The surface morphology and structural characteristics of Sn4Sb6S13 films were analyzed by atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and energy-dispersive X-ray, respectively. The X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that Sn4Sb6S13 thin films crystallized in monoclinic structure according to a preferential direction (\(\bar{6}\) 11). An improvement in the structural properties by increasing the substrate temperature was observed. The values of some important parameters such as absorption coefficient (α), band gap (E g), refractive index (n), extinction coefficient (k), and dielectric constant (ε ∞) of thin film were determined. The absorption coefficient was larger than 105 cm−1 in the visible range. The electron transition of Sn4Sb6S13 films was direct allowed with the values that decreased (2–1.69 eV) by increasing substrate temperature from 30 to 200 °C. The dispersion data obeyed the single oscillator relation of the Wemple–DiDomenico model and Cauchy model. The electrical free carrier susceptibility and the carrier concentration of the effective mass ratio were estimated according to the model of Spitzer and Fan.