Characteristics of the Te-based chalcogenide films dependently on the parameters of the PECVD process

Recently in Mochalov et al. (Opt Quant Electron 49(8):274–276, 2017; Plasma Chem Plasma Process 37(5):1417–1429, 2017; Superlattices Microstruct 111:173–180, 2017; Spectrochim Acta Part A Mol Biomol Spectrosc 191:211–216, 2018; New generation of materials for the near-mid IR sensors based on lead chalcogenides. In: 21st international conference on transparent optical networks (ICTON), 2019) the possibility of preparation of telluride films of different stoichiometry and phase composition by plasma deposition where the high-pure elemental arsenic, lead and tellurium were utilized as the starting materials have been shown. This manuscript generalizes the results of investigations of main characteristics of Te-based binary AsxTe100−x and PbTe chalcogenide films prepared in low-temperature non-equilibrium RF (40.68 MHz) argon plasma discharge at low pressure (0.1 Torr). The surface morphology, structure and thermal crystallization behavior of the films obtained were studied in dependence on the plasma parameters of the deposition process and compared.