Structural and optical properties of CsI thin films: Influence of film thickness and humidity

TL;DR

This study investigates how film thickness and humidity affect the structural and optical properties of CsI thin films, revealing changes in crystallinity, stress, and band gap energy through experimental analysis.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the effects of humidity and film thickness on CsI thin films' properties, using structural and optical characterization methods.

Findings

Increased film thickness improves crystallinity.

Humidity causes degradation of optical properties.

Band gap energy decreases with larger crystallite size.

Abstract

Structural and optical studies have been performed on the thermally-evaporated "as-deposited" and "humid air aged" CsI thin films. The structural analysis for both "as-deposited" and "humid air aged" films shows a well-oriented peaks position of (110) and (220) lattice planes with a compressive stress in the films. The crystal quality has been investigated through the structural parameters. The increase in peak intensity as well as sharpness with film thickness implies the improvement of crystallinity. The optical absorbance of CsI films has been analyzed in the wavelength range of 190 nm - 900 nm in order to estimate the band gap energy of the films. Slater's model has also been used to explain the degradation of band gap energy with the increase in crystallite size.