Thin Solid Films, Vol.631, 161-171, 2017
Complex impedance spectroscopy of Sn4Sb6S13 thin films deposited by thermal vacuum evaporation
In the current article, we studied the effect of substrate temperature on themorphological and electrical behavior of sulfosaltmaterial Sn4Sb6S13 deposited by vacuumthermal evaporation procedure on glass substrate heated at various temperatures in the range of 30-200 degrees C. X-ray diffraction patterns indicate that Sn4Sb6S13 thin films crystallized in monoclinic structure according to a preferential direction ((6) over bar 11) and the average grain size increases by increasing substrate temperature. Atomic forcemicroscopy was used to characterize the surface morphology of the layers. Electrical and dielectric properties have been investigated by ac impedance spectroscopy over a wide range of temperature up to 400 degrees C starting from room temperature in the frequency range 5 Hz-13 MHz. The complex impedance plots display a single semicircle that highlights the influences of grain on the films. Impedance analyses showed that the resistance decreased by increasing the temperature. In addition, the analysis of conductivity shows that the conduction mechanism was thermally activated and was assured by hopping between localized states. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Tin antimony sulfate;Thin film;Vacuum thermal evaporation;AC impedance spectroscopy;Electrical properties;X-ray diffraction