PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF Sn(S1-xTex) SOLID SOLUTIONS OF BOTH MASSIVE MATERIALS AND THIN FILMS

The Sn(S1-xTex) solid solutions have been prepared on both massive materials and thin films with variation of x value of 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0. The massive materials were prepared by Bridgman technique, while the thin films were obtained with vacuum evaporation technique. Phase and crystal structure of both massive materials and thin films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The chemical compositions were determined by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX). Especially for thin films, the surface morphology was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while the optical properties were obtained by UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometers. The results show that the crystalline structures of all materials have an orthorhombic structure when dominated by sulfur atom, while having a cubic structure for tellurium atom dominance. All samples are p-type semiconductors and the optical properties show a reduction of the band gaps when the tellurium atomic composition increases