Improvement of polycrystalline InN thin films properties by localized ion source under low RF plasma ambient

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics Vol. 30; no. 16; pp. 15534 - 15543
• Main Authors: Alizadeh, Mahdi, Goh, Boon Tong, Wasman Qadir, Karwan, Yousefi, Hamid, Mehmood, Muhammad Shahid, Rasuli, Reza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-08-2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Efficiency; Electrodes; Energy gap; Indium nitride; Ion sources; Mapping; Materials Science; Microscopy; Molecular beam epitaxy; Nitrogen; Optical and Electronic Materials; Optical properties; Organic chemicals; Photovoltaic cells; Physics; Plasma; Polycrystals; Radiation; Solar cells; Spectrum analysis; Substrates; Thin films
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-019-01930-9

Polycrystalline InN/Si(111) were prepared using plasma-assisted reactive evaporation technique under localized ion source (LIS). It was shown that in presence of LIS the structural, compositional, morphological and optical properties of the films can be engineered. XRD and Raman results revealed that shorter LIS-to-substrate distance (
d
L
I
S
-
s
)
results in higher crystallinity. From XPS and EDX mapping it was concluded that as
d
L
I
S
-
s
decreases, the incorporation of N into the InN films is enhanced. More uniform, compact and smooth films are obtained as the LIS is placed more adjacent to the substrate. From the optical results it was found that by using LIS, the band gap energy (
E
g
) of the samples decreases from 1.97 to 1.23–1.37 eV which could be applicable in solar cell devices.