Impacts of oxygen sensitization methods on the deposition and microstructure of ternary lead chalcogenide alloys

Abstract Oxygen sensitization and incorporation of ternary lead chalcogenide PbSe1-xTex thin films was investigated with two methods: adding oxygen via PbO to the bulk source alloy and post-deposition oxygen annealing. Characterization of the composition, structure, and morphology of these films confirmed that they follow Vegard's law for lattice parameter, and adding PbO to the source alloy did not impact the lattice parameter. However, adding PbO changed the electrical carrier properties observed in Hall effect measurements without forming any new oxide phase. Conversely, post-deposition annealing increased the lattice parameter due to oxygen incorporation into the lattice via interstitials in samples with appropriate grain boundary orientations. Morphological analysis revealed that PbSe0.8Te0.2 films demonstrated (100) texture, while PbSe0.6Te0.4 films demonstrated (111) texture with resulting grain boundary orientations more favorable to oxygen diffusion and incorporation. This varying oxygen incorporation from PbO source and oxygen annealing methods reveals trends that can lead to improved photodetector performance.