Influence of Annealing Temperature on the Physical Properties of Cu2SnSe3 Thin Films Prepared by Thermal Vacuum Evaporation Technique
Mohd Amirul Syafiq Mohd Yunos *
Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia and Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Kajang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Zainal Abidin Talib
Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Wan Mahmood Mat Yunus
Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Ternary compound of semiconductor polycrystals Copper Tin Selenide, Cu2SnSe3, thin films have been prepared by vacuum thermal evaporation technique on well-cleaned glass substrate and annealed in purified nitrogen atmosphere from room temperature to 500°C for different annealing temperature. The annealing effects on surface morphologies, elemental compositions, and electrical behaviour of these films have been investigated using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDX), and Van der Pauw techniques. EDX studies showed that increasing the annealing temperature resulted in drastic loss of Cu content. It is observed that elemental compositions of the Cu2SnSe3 thin films were close to the ideal stoichiometric value 2:1:3. The annealed Cu2SnSe3 thin films were found to be p-type semiconductor with activation energy, ΔEa, of 0.018 eV obtained from I-V characteristic analysis.
Keywords: Cu2SnSe3, thin film, annealing temperature, vacuum evaporation, physical properties