The effect of temperature and voltage on the current in selenium film

Abstract

This study aims to explore the influence of temperature and voltage on the current in selenium thin films. Selenium films (∼2 μm thick) were synthesized by thermal evaporation. The current-voltage (I-V) curves were measured at different temperatures and examined to study the effect of heating and cooling on the sample. The change in the current by varying temperature, between room temperature and 400 K, is described based on amorphous to crystalline phase transition. The dependence of current on voltage, at each temperature, suggests that the resistance does not depend on the voltage when the film is amorphous and becomes voltage-dependent after the crystallization. The voltage dependence is explained in terms of potential energy barriers at the boundaries between the amorphous and crystalline regions created at high temperatures.