Structural and Optical Properties of Pulse Laser Deposited Ag_2O Thin Films

TL;DR

This study investigates how varying laser energy during pulsed laser deposition affects the structural and optical properties of Ag_2O thin films, highlighting their potential for solar photovoltaic applications.

Contribution

It provides detailed analysis of the relationship between laser energy and properties of Ag_2O films, which was not extensively studied before.

Findings

Crystalline size increases with laser energy.

Optical band gap widens from 0.87 to 0.98 eV.

Oxygen content in films increases with laser energy.

Abstract

We deposited Ag_2O films in PLD system on glass substrate for a fixed partial oxygen gas pressure (70 mili Torr) with the variation of laser energy from 75 to 215 mJ/Pulse. The XRD patterns confirm that the films have well crystallinity and deposited as hexagonal lattice and the crystalline size increases from 26.38 nm to 27.27 nm. The FESEM images show that the particle size of the films increases from 34.84 nm to 65.83 nm. The composition of the films is analyzed from EDX spectra which show that the percentage of oxygen increases from 41.03% to 48.38% with the increment of laser energy. From the optical characterization, it is observed that the optical band gap appears in the visible optical range in an increasing order from 0.87 to 0.98 eV with the increment of laser energy. Our analysis concludes that the Ag_2O thin films, deposited with these parameters, can be considered as a good absorbent layer for solar photovoltaic application.