Optical Properties of Tin Selenide Thin Films Prepared by Chemical Bath Deposition Technique

Abstract

Thin films of Tin Selenide (SnSe) semiconductor material were deposited on glass substrate using Chemical Bath Deposition Technique at room temperature (300K). The films were optically characterized using M501 Single Beam Scanning UV/Visible spectrophotometer at wavelength range of 320nm-600nm. The films show high absorption coefficient of 0.192 x 10⁶m- 1.031x10⁶m. They were also found to possess high optical conductivity value of 0.58 x 10¹³S^-1 – 6.47 x 10¹³ S^-1 and low extinction coefficient of 0.0092-0.0262. The refractive index calculation shows a value range of 2.05-2.63 and the films were found to have high percentage transmittance value of 56%- 76%. The reflectance value was found to be generally low. The Band gap energy range of 1.20-1.70eV was obtained for the material.  All these desirable properties made the material to be a good candidate for photovoltaic applications.

Keywords: Chemical Bath Deposition Technique, Optical Conductivity, Refractive index, Extinction Coefficient, Absorption coefficient Band gap energy and Photovoltaic.