Optical and structural investigations on Sb2S2O new kermesite alloy for optoelectronic applications

Abstract Sb 2 S 2 O thin films have been prepared on glass substrates by using appropriate heat treatment of Sb evaporated thin films. X-ray analysis shows that Sb thin film annealed under sulfur atmosphere at 300 °C is mainly formed by Sb 2 S 3 . A heat treatment of the latest binary compound in air at 350 °C during six hours leads to Sb 2 S 2 O ternary material having triclinic structure with a preferred orientation of the crystallites along ( 1 ¯ 0 2 ) direction. Some of structural, optical and morphological characteristics have been studied. The analysis in 300–1800 nm domain of the refractive index data through Wemple–DiDomenico model leads to the single oscillator energy ( E 0  = 8.2 eV), the dispersion energy ( E d  = 23.14 eV) and both M −1 and M −3 moments. Real and imaginary parts of dielectric constant have been also used to calculate plasma frequency, relaxation time and e ∞ permittivity. The optical conductivity exhibits a threshold of absorption of about 3.07 eV which matches the gap energy value of Sb 2 S 2 O material. Moreover, the correlation between optical conductivity and Urbach energy of Sb 2 S 2 O thin films are discussed.