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Investigation of structural, optical and electrical properties of Cu doped β-In2S3 thin films

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Abstract

β-In2S3 thin films with different concentrations of Cu incorporation have been grown on glass substrates using vacuum thermal evaporation method. The influences of the Cu incorporation on the structural, optical and electrical properties of In2S3 thin films have been investigated. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study suggests the incorporated Cu will exist as Cu+ or Cu0. XRD analyses reveal that Cu doping will neither change the structure of In2S3 nor lead to any formation of new crystalline compounds. Scanning electron microscope views show that the surfaces of the films are flat and dense, and that the grain size increases after Cu doping. The refractive index n of the In2S3 thin films which is extracted from spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements shows a slight reduction in the long-wavelength region and a little enhancement in the short-wavelength region after Cu doping. It is also found that the band gap of the thin films is indirect and slightly increases from 1.90 to about 2.02 eV after Cu doping. Electrical measurements indicate that the incorporation of Cu will lead to n-type doping and a decrease of resistivity of the thin films.

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Acknowledgments

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61006003, 61306120, 61340051, and 61076063), and Natural Science Foundation of Fujian (Grant No. 2014J05073).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Micro/Nano Devices and Solar Cells, School of Physics and Information Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Zhongming Zheng, Jinling Yu, Shuying Cheng, Yunfeng Lai & Qiao Zheng

  2. Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Photovolatic Science and Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou, 213164, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Jinling Yu & Shuying Cheng

  3. Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials Chemistry and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou, 350002, People’s Republic of China

    Danmei Pan

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  1. Zhongming Zheng
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Correspondence to Jinling Yu.

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Zheng, Z., Yu, J., Cheng, S. et al. Investigation of structural, optical and electrical properties of Cu doped β-In2S3 thin films. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 27, 5810–5817 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-016-4496-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-016-4496-3

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