Ytterbium induced structural phase transitions and their effects on the optical and electrical properties of ZnPc thin films

Abstract

In this work, the effects of ytterbium substrates of thicknesses of 150 (Yb-150) and 1000 nm (Yb-1000) on the structural, optical and electrical properties of zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) are investigated. While the Yb-150/ZnPc exhibited strained monoclinic structure, the Yb-1000/ZnPc thin films are observed to exhibit phase transitions from monoclinic to triclinic structure. Analysis which targeted observatories of the effects of the Yb-150 substrate on the optical properties indicated that the transparent Yb-150 substrate enhanced the light absorbability by more than 11 times at 1.27 eV. On the other hand, the impedance spectroscopy measurements on the nontransparent Yb-1000/ZnPc/Ag sandwiched structures have shown that these devices could exhibit negative capacitance (NC) effect in the frequency domain of 0.244–1.800 GHz. The NC effect is associated with resonance-anti-resonance response at 0.235 and 0.244 GHz, respectively. The structural, optical and electrical properties of the Yb/ZnPc interfaces indicate its applicability as optoelectronic and/or radio/microwave components.