Synthesis of pyrite thin films obtained by thermal-sulfurating iron films at different sulfur atmosphere pressure

Pyrite films have been prepared by sulfuration annealing iron films with different sulfur atmosphere pressure at 400 and 500 degreesC. The optical absorption and electrical characteristics have been determined as a function of the sulfur pressure in the range of 40-100 kPa. For the films sulfurated at 400 degreesC, with increasing in sulfur pressure, the optical absorption edge increases up to remain a constant value about 0.93 eV while the electrical resistivity shows an insignificant change. By comparison with the films sulfurated at 400 degreesC with different sulfur pressure, the films sulfurated at 500 C have high electrical resistivity and low optical absorption edge except for the films sulfurated in 40 kPa sulfur atmosphere. With increasing in sulfur pressure at 500 degreesC, the carrier density in the films increases and the charge mobility decreases. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.