Effect of structural defects on optical properties of amorphous selenium films

Abstract

Thickness of film, energy of incident photons and glass transition temperature all affect the structural bonding between neighbours and are considered to be the main factors in studying the optical properties of amorphous selenium films. The results indicate that in the lowtemperature range (T <Tg), a shift in the absorption edge to lower photon energies with increasing film thickness occurs. Increasing the thickness is accompanied by a decrease in the optical energy gap, Egopt, with a gradient of 5×10-4eV nm-1. In the high-temperature range (T >Tg), the value of Egopt for a given thickness decreases by more than 50% due to pronounced modulation of the structural defects under incidence of isoenergetic photons of 1.8 eV. The isothermal curves of T, R=f(t), at T >Tg, take place via three time-dependent stages. These results are interpreted and are correlated with the temperature dependence of the morphological changes declaring the formation of spherulites having a lamellar structure. The kinetic parameters controlling the structural transition are computed and the results are discussed. © 1990 Chapman and Hall Ltd.