Refractive index, extinction coefficient and DC conductivity of amorphous arsenic triselenide thin film doped with silver

Thin films of arsenic triselenide doped with silver were prepared by thermal evaporation of the bulk-quenched materials. Structural investigations have been carried out by using X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence. The differential scanning calorimetry is used to measure the glass transition temperature of the samples under investigation. The Swanepoel method based on the use of the maxima and minima in the interference fringes has been successfully utilized for accurate determination of the film thickness and optical parameters. The technique used took into consideration the non-uniform nature in the film thickness. Using the exact calculation of the film thickness the real refractive index, the extinction coefficient, the optical bandgap energy and the oscillator and dispersion energies were obtained as a function of the silver contents. The DC conductivity was found to depend on the silver content. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.