Effect of Thickness on Structural and Electrical Properties of CuAlS2 Thin Films Grown by Two Stage Vacuum Thermal Evaporation Technique
This work studies the effect of thickness on structural
and electrical properties of CuAlS2 thin films grown by two stage
vacuum thermal evaporation technique. CuAlS2 thin films of
thicknesses 50nm, 100nm and 200nm were deposited on suitably
cleaned corning 7059 glass substrate at room temperature (RT). In
the first stage Cu-Al precursors were grown at room temperature by
thermal evaporation and in the second stage Cu-Al precursors were
converted to CuAlS2 thin films by sulfurisation under sulfur
atmosphere at the temperature of 673K. The structural properties of
the films were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique while
electrical properties of the specimens were studied using four point
probe method. The XRD studies revealed that the films are of
crystalline in nature having tetragonal structure. The variations of the
micro-structural parameters, such as crystallite size (D), dislocation
density ( ), and micro-strain ( ), with film thickness were
investigated. The results showed that the crystallite sizes increase as
the thickness of the film increases. The dislocation density and
micro-strain decreases as the thickness increases. The resistivity ( )
of CuAlS2 film is found to decrease with increase in film thickness,
which is related to the increase of carrier concentration with film
thickness. Thus thicker films exhibit the lowest resistivity and high
carrier concentration, implying these are the most conductive films.
Low electrical resistivity and high carrier concentration are widely
used as the essential components in various optoelectronic devices
such as light-emitting diode and photovoltaic cells.
[1] D. N. Okoli, A. J. Ekpunobi and C. E. Okeke, “Optical Properties of
Chemical Bath deposited CuAlS2 Thin Films”. The pacific Journal of
Science and Technology. Vol.7 pp. 59-63, 2006.
[2] J. A. Tariq and A. J. Mushtak, “Structure and optical properties of
CuAlS2 Thin films by CBD”, Turkish Journal of Physics, vol. 34 pp.
107- 116, 2010.
[3] C.O. El Moctar, K. Kambas, S. Marsillac, U. A. Anagnostopoulos and J.
C. Bern`ede, “Optical Properties of CuAlX2 (X= Se, Te) thin Films
obtained by Annealing of Copper, Aluminum and Chalcogen layers
sequentially deposited”, Thin Solid Films, vol. 371, pp. 453-461, 2000.
[4] P.B. Ahirrao, S.R. Gosavi, S.S. Sanjay and R. S. Patil, “Wide Band
Nanocrystalline CuSCN thin films deposited by Modified Chemical
method”, Archives of Physics Research, vol. 2, pp.29-33, 2011.
[5] H. Dan, T, Ren-Yu, Z. Yu-Jun, N. Jian-Ju, C. Xin-Hua and Y. Chun-
Mei, “First principle study of CuAlS2 for P-type transparent conductive
materials”, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, vol.43, pp.1-7, 2010.
[6] W. N. Honeyman, “Crystals of the I-IlI-VI2 Ternary Semiconductors
CuAlS2 and CuAlSe2 Prepared by Vapor Transport with Iodine
transport”, Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids, vol.30, pp.1935-
1940, 2011.
[7] I. Illican, Y. Caglar, and M. Caglar, “Structural, Morphological and
Optical Properties of CuAlS2 thin films deposited by Spray
Pyrolisis”, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Material, vol.10
pp.10, 2008.
[8] M. Caglar and I. Saliha,” Structural, morphological and optical
properties of CuAlS2 thin films deposited by spray Pyrolisis”, Optics
Communications Journal, vol. 281, pp.1615-1624, 2008.
[9] C. Mujadat, I. Saliha and Y. Caglar, “Structural, Morphological and
Optical properties of CuAlS2 films prepared by Spray Pyrolisis”, Optical
Communication, vol. 281, pp.1615-1624, 2008.
[10] H. Edward, “Thermal evaporator user manual, Emerging
Communication Technology Institute”, pp.1-8, 2008.
[11] A. U. Moreh, M. Momoh, and B. Hamza, “Influence of Substrate
Temperature on Optical Properties of Nanostructured CuAlS2 Thin
Films Grown By Two Stage Vacuum Thermal Evaporation
technique”, International Journal of Engineering Science Invention
vol.2, pp 2319 – 6734, 2013.
[12] A. Bouloura, K. Djessas, and D. Todorovic, “Structural and Optical
Properties of Cu (In,Ga)Se2 Grown by Closed- Spaced Vapor transport
Technique”, Material Science in Semiconductor Processing, vol.7, pp.
82-87, 2009.
[13] K. Sarma, R. Sarma, and H. L. Das, “Structural Characterization of
Thermally Evaporated CdSe thin Films”, Chalcogenide Letters, vol.5
pp. 153-163, 2008.
[14] A.A. Ogwu, T.H. Darma, and E. Bouquerel, “Electrical resistivity of
Copper oxide thin Films Prepared by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering”,
Journal of Achievements in Materials and Manufacturing Engineering,
vol.24, pp. 172-177, 2007.
[15] S. Agilan, D. Mangalaraj, S. K. Narayandass and G. Mohan Rao,
“Effect of Thickness and Substrate Temperature On structure and
Optical Band gap of Wall deposited CuInSe2 Polycrystalline Thin
Films (Unpublished work style),” unpublished.
[16] K. Pawan, J. Nidhi, and R. K. Agrawal, “Effect of substrate temperature
on optical properties of Bi2S3 chalcogenide thin films” Chalcogenide
Letters.vol.7, pp. 89-94, 2010.
[17] R. Brini, G. Schmer, M. Kanzari, and B. Rezig, “Study of Growth of
CuAlS2 thin Films on Oriented Silicon (111)”, Journal of Solid Thin
Films, vol.517 pp. 2191-2194, 2009.
[18] C. J. Olejniceka, L.E. Flannerya, S. A. Darveau, C.L. Exstroma, S.
Kment, N. J. Iannob and R.J. Soukup, “CuIn1−xAlxS2 thin Films Prepared
by sulfurisation of Metallic Precursors”, Journal of Alloys and
Compounds, vol.509 pp.10020–10024, 2011.
[19] H.L. Chen, Y.M. Lu and W.S. Hwang, “Effect of Film Thickness on
Structural and Electrical Properties of Sputter-Deposited Nickel
Oxide” Films Materials. Transactions, Vol. 46, pp. 872- 879, 2005.
[20] J. Myoung, W. Yoon, D. Lee, I. Yun, S. Bae, and S. Lee, “Effects of
Thickness Variation on Properties of ZnO Thin Films Grown by Pulsed
Laser Deposition”, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 41, pp. 28–31, 2002.
[21] M.S. Hossain, R. Islam, and K. A. Khan, “Effects of various parameters
on the DC electrical properties of ZnTe:V thin films”, Journal of
Ovonic Research, vol.5, pp.195- 205, 2009.
[22] A. Jain, P. Sagar and M.R. Mehra, “Changes of structural, optical and
electrical properties of sol-gel derived ZnO films with their thickness”,
Materials Science-Poland, vol.25, pp.240-241, 2007.
[23] A. U. Ubale, V. P. Deshpande and D. P. Gulwade, “Electrical, optical
and structural properties of Nano-structured Sb2S3 thin films deposited
by CBD techniques”, Chalcogenides Letters, vol.7, pp.101-109, 2010.
[24] M.S Shinde, P.b. Arhirrao, I.J. Patil and R.S. Patil, “Thickness
dependant electrical and Optical properties of nano-crystalline copper
Sulphide thin films grown by simple chemical route”, Indian Journal of
Pure and Applied Physics, vol.50, pp. 657-660, 2012.
[25] R. A. Kumar, V. Manivannan and S. Krishnaraj, “Growth and
characterization of ZnO Nano thin films using Spray pyrolisis”,
International Journal of Research in Pure and Applied Physics, vol. 3,
pp. 39-42, 2013.
[26] W. Hung-Wei, C. Chien-Hsun, C. Yu-Fu, H. Shih-Hua, C. Yung-Wei,
C. Guan-Syun and T. Wu-Han, “Study of AZO thin Films under
different Ar flow and Sputtering Power by rf Magnetron sputtering”,
Proceedings of the International Multi Conference of Engineers and
Computer Scientists, vol.2, pp.1-4, 2013.
[27] A. U. Moreh and B. Hamza, “On the electrical properties of CuAlS2 thin
films Grown by two stage vacuum thermal Evaporation method
(Unpublished work style),” unpublished
[1] D. N. Okoli, A. J. Ekpunobi and C. E. Okeke, “Optical Properties of
Chemical Bath deposited CuAlS2 Thin Films”. The pacific Journal of
Science and Technology. Vol.7 pp. 59-63, 2006.
[2] J. A. Tariq and A. J. Mushtak, “Structure and optical properties of
CuAlS2 Thin films by CBD”, Turkish Journal of Physics, vol. 34 pp.
107- 116, 2010.
[3] C.O. El Moctar, K. Kambas, S. Marsillac, U. A. Anagnostopoulos and J.
C. Bern`ede, “Optical Properties of CuAlX2 (X= Se, Te) thin Films
obtained by Annealing of Copper, Aluminum and Chalcogen layers
sequentially deposited”, Thin Solid Films, vol. 371, pp. 453-461, 2000.
[4] P.B. Ahirrao, S.R. Gosavi, S.S. Sanjay and R. S. Patil, “Wide Band
Nanocrystalline CuSCN thin films deposited by Modified Chemical
method”, Archives of Physics Research, vol. 2, pp.29-33, 2011.
[5] H. Dan, T, Ren-Yu, Z. Yu-Jun, N. Jian-Ju, C. Xin-Hua and Y. Chun-
Mei, “First principle study of CuAlS2 for P-type transparent conductive
materials”, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, vol.43, pp.1-7, 2010.
[6] W. N. Honeyman, “Crystals of the I-IlI-VI2 Ternary Semiconductors
CuAlS2 and CuAlSe2 Prepared by Vapor Transport with Iodine
transport”, Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids, vol.30, pp.1935-
1940, 2011.
[7] I. Illican, Y. Caglar, and M. Caglar, “Structural, Morphological and
Optical Properties of CuAlS2 thin films deposited by Spray
Pyrolisis”, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Material, vol.10
pp.10, 2008.
[8] M. Caglar and I. Saliha,” Structural, morphological and optical
properties of CuAlS2 thin films deposited by spray Pyrolisis”, Optics
Communications Journal, vol. 281, pp.1615-1624, 2008.
[9] C. Mujadat, I. Saliha and Y. Caglar, “Structural, Morphological and
Optical properties of CuAlS2 films prepared by Spray Pyrolisis”, Optical
Communication, vol. 281, pp.1615-1624, 2008.
[10] H. Edward, “Thermal evaporator user manual, Emerging
Communication Technology Institute”, pp.1-8, 2008.
[11] A. U. Moreh, M. Momoh, and B. Hamza, “Influence of Substrate
Temperature on Optical Properties of Nanostructured CuAlS2 Thin
Films Grown By Two Stage Vacuum Thermal Evaporation
technique”, International Journal of Engineering Science Invention
vol.2, pp 2319 – 6734, 2013.
[12] A. Bouloura, K. Djessas, and D. Todorovic, “Structural and Optical
Properties of Cu (In,Ga)Se2 Grown by Closed- Spaced Vapor transport
Technique”, Material Science in Semiconductor Processing, vol.7, pp.
82-87, 2009.
[13] K. Sarma, R. Sarma, and H. L. Das, “Structural Characterization of
Thermally Evaporated CdSe thin Films”, Chalcogenide Letters, vol.5
pp. 153-163, 2008.
[14] A.A. Ogwu, T.H. Darma, and E. Bouquerel, “Electrical resistivity of
Copper oxide thin Films Prepared by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering”,
Journal of Achievements in Materials and Manufacturing Engineering,
vol.24, pp. 172-177, 2007.
[15] S. Agilan, D. Mangalaraj, S. K. Narayandass and G. Mohan Rao,
“Effect of Thickness and Substrate Temperature On structure and
Optical Band gap of Wall deposited CuInSe2 Polycrystalline Thin
Films (Unpublished work style),” unpublished.
[16] K. Pawan, J. Nidhi, and R. K. Agrawal, “Effect of substrate temperature
on optical properties of Bi2S3 chalcogenide thin films” Chalcogenide
Letters.vol.7, pp. 89-94, 2010.
[17] R. Brini, G. Schmer, M. Kanzari, and B. Rezig, “Study of Growth of
CuAlS2 thin Films on Oriented Silicon (111)”, Journal of Solid Thin
Films, vol.517 pp. 2191-2194, 2009.
[18] C. J. Olejniceka, L.E. Flannerya, S. A. Darveau, C.L. Exstroma, S.
Kment, N. J. Iannob and R.J. Soukup, “CuIn1−xAlxS2 thin Films Prepared
by sulfurisation of Metallic Precursors”, Journal of Alloys and
Compounds, vol.509 pp.10020–10024, 2011.
[19] H.L. Chen, Y.M. Lu and W.S. Hwang, “Effect of Film Thickness on
Structural and Electrical Properties of Sputter-Deposited Nickel
Oxide” Films Materials. Transactions, Vol. 46, pp. 872- 879, 2005.
[20] J. Myoung, W. Yoon, D. Lee, I. Yun, S. Bae, and S. Lee, “Effects of
Thickness Variation on Properties of ZnO Thin Films Grown by Pulsed
Laser Deposition”, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 41, pp. 28–31, 2002.
[21] M.S. Hossain, R. Islam, and K. A. Khan, “Effects of various parameters
on the DC electrical properties of ZnTe:V thin films”, Journal of
Ovonic Research, vol.5, pp.195- 205, 2009.
[22] A. Jain, P. Sagar and M.R. Mehra, “Changes of structural, optical and
electrical properties of sol-gel derived ZnO films with their thickness”,
Materials Science-Poland, vol.25, pp.240-241, 2007.
[23] A. U. Ubale, V. P. Deshpande and D. P. Gulwade, “Electrical, optical
and structural properties of Nano-structured Sb2S3 thin films deposited
by CBD techniques”, Chalcogenides Letters, vol.7, pp.101-109, 2010.
[24] M.S Shinde, P.b. Arhirrao, I.J. Patil and R.S. Patil, “Thickness
dependant electrical and Optical properties of nano-crystalline copper
Sulphide thin films grown by simple chemical route”, Indian Journal of
Pure and Applied Physics, vol.50, pp. 657-660, 2012.
[25] R. A. Kumar, V. Manivannan and S. Krishnaraj, “Growth and
characterization of ZnO Nano thin films using Spray pyrolisis”,
International Journal of Research in Pure and Applied Physics, vol. 3,
pp. 39-42, 2013.
[26] W. Hung-Wei, C. Chien-Hsun, C. Yu-Fu, H. Shih-Hua, C. Yung-Wei,
C. Guan-Syun and T. Wu-Han, “Study of AZO thin Films under
different Ar flow and Sputtering Power by rf Magnetron sputtering”,
Proceedings of the International Multi Conference of Engineers and
Computer Scientists, vol.2, pp.1-4, 2013.
[27] A. U. Moreh and B. Hamza, “On the electrical properties of CuAlS2 thin
films Grown by two stage vacuum thermal Evaporation method
(Unpublished work style),” unpublished
@article{"International Journal of Engineering, Mathematical and Physical Sciences:72044", author = "A. U. Moreh and M. Momoh and H. N. Yahya and B. Hamza and I. G. Saidu and S. Abdullahi", title = "Effect of Thickness on Structural and Electrical Properties of CuAlS2 Thin Films Grown by Two Stage Vacuum Thermal Evaporation Technique", abstract = "This work studies the effect of thickness on structural
and electrical properties of CuAlS2 thin films grown by two stage
vacuum thermal evaporation technique. CuAlS2 thin films of
thicknesses 50nm, 100nm and 200nm were deposited on suitably
cleaned corning 7059 glass substrate at room temperature (RT). In
the first stage Cu-Al precursors were grown at room temperature by
thermal evaporation and in the second stage Cu-Al precursors were
converted to CuAlS2 thin films by sulfurisation under sulfur
atmosphere at the temperature of 673K. The structural properties of
the films were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique while
electrical properties of the specimens were studied using four point
probe method. The XRD studies revealed that the films are of
crystalline in nature having tetragonal structure. The variations of the
micro-structural parameters, such as crystallite size (D), dislocation
density ( ), and micro-strain ( ), with film thickness were
investigated. The results showed that the crystallite sizes increase as
the thickness of the film increases. The dislocation density and
micro-strain decreases as the thickness increases. The resistivity ( )
of CuAlS2 film is found to decrease with increase in film thickness,
which is related to the increase of carrier concentration with film
thickness. Thus thicker films exhibit the lowest resistivity and high
carrier concentration, implying these are the most conductive films.
Low electrical resistivity and high carrier concentration are widely
used as the essential components in various optoelectronic devices
such as light-emitting diode and photovoltaic cells.", keywords = "Crystalline, CuAlS2, evaporation, resistivity,
sulfurisation, thickness.", volume = "8", number = "7", pages = "1084-5", }
