Tin antimonide alloy films, vacuum-deposited at room temperature onto glass substrates, were heated to a maximum temperature of about 300 °C and the changes in their electrical resistance with temperature were recorded. The initial lattice distortion energy spectra of the films have been determined from the resistance-temperature data. It is found that the F0(E)max and Emax values vary from 200×10-4 to 700×10-4 ohms;cm/eV and from 1.55 to 1.74 eV respectively and that they depend upon the thickness of the film. The resistivities of the films due to thermal vibrations alone have been calculated and it is found that the calculated resistivity values for films of different thicknesses are in good agreement with the size effect theory. © 1974.

V. Damodara das

M. S. Jagadeesh

electric conductivity

Heat Treatment - Annealing

TIN ANTIMONIDES

Tin compounds

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IIT Madras

Annealing and thickness effects on the electrical resistance of vacuum-deposited tin antimonide alloy films

Thin Solid Films

Antimony thin films of different thicknesses have been vacuum-deposited onto cleaned glass substrates held at room temperature, and their thermoelectric power and electrical resistivity have been evaluated as functions of temperature and thickness. The Jain-Verma theory of the size effect on the thermoelectric power of thin films has been applied to the experimental data to understand the nature of the scattering mechanism in antimony thin films. The carrier mean free path Ig and the Seeback coefficient Sg of the bulk (with thin film microstructure) have been evaluated at room temperature from the resistivity-thickness and thermoelectric power-thickness plots, respectively, as 1200 Å and 30.1 μVK-1. Using these values Sf/Sg, the thermoelectric power of the films (in the units of Sg, as given by the Jain-Verma theory has been plotted as a function of thickness t/Ig (in units of Ig) for different values of the scattering parameter b to generate a family of curves. By finding out on what curve or curves the experimental thermoelectric power values lie, the scattering parameter has been evaluated to be -0.2, so that the relaxation time τ varies as τ=a E-0.2 in antimony thin films. It is inferred from this that the major scattering process in our antimony thin films is lattice scattering even though other scattering processes also occur to a lesser extent in the films in the temperature range studied. © 1990.

Vacuum

Nature of principal scattering mechanism in well-annealed antimony thin films-analysis from thermoelectric data

Thin antimony films of thicknesses in the range 30 to 200 nm have been vacuum deposited on glass substrates at room temperature. After annealing for about an hour at 500 K, the thermoelectric power and electrical resistivity were measured in vacuum as a function of temperature. The thermoelectric power and electrical conductivity data were combined and simultaneously analysed using the effective mean free path theory of size effect in thin films developed by Tellier and Pichard et al. In addition, their temperature dependence was also analysed. It was found that the thermoelectric power is positive and increases with increasing temperature and is inversely proportional to the thickness of the film. The electrical resistivity was found to be temperature dependent with the temperature coefficient of resistivity being positive, and inversely proportional to the thickness of the film. Analysis combining the data from the thermoelectric power and electrical conductivity measurements has led to the determination of mean free path, carrier concentration, effective mass, Fermi energy and the parameter {Mathematical expression} The data were analysed for least squares fitting by local functions, such as the spline functions, which eliminates possible errors in conventional least squares fitting of data using non-local functions valid throughout the range. © 1989 Chapman and Hall Ltd.

Journal of Materials Science

Size and temperature dependence of thermoelectric power and electrical resistivity of vacuum-deposited antimony thin films

Bismuth thin films of various thicknesses between 15 nm and 350 nm were vacuum deposited at room temperature on to glass substrates, immediately after which they were twice heat treated at a uniform rate. During the heat treatment, the resistance changes were monitored and, using these data, the initial lattice distortion energy spectra of as-grown bismuth thin films have been evaluated. It is found that the defects have preferential activation energy values around 1.06 eV, 1.14 eV and 1.32 ev. It is also found that ∫F0 (E) d E oscillates with thickness, which is attributed to the quantum size effect. © 1982 Chapman and Hall Ltd.

Lattice distortion energy spectra of as-grown bismuth thin films and their thickness dependence

Bismuth thin films of different thicknesses between about 20 and 225 nm are vacuum deposited at room temperature in a vacuum of 3 × 10−3 Pa. The films are heat‐treated “in situ” and the resistances monitored. It is found that the resistivity‐temperature plots of the films after heat‐treatment are non‐linear and exhibit a minimum whose position is a function of thickness. It is also found that the films behave as semiconductors, the band gap decreasing with increasing thickness. The observations are interpreted on the basis of quantum size effect and the limitation of the electronic mean free path by the grain size of the films. Copyright © 1982 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &amp; Co. KGaA

physica status solidi (a)

Variation of energy gap and resistivity minimum position with thickness in bismuth thin films

Bismuth thin films of various thicknesses in the range 150-3500 Å have been vacuum deposited on clean glass substrates held at room temperature. Resistances were measured both before and after heat treatment in situ, which was carried out immediately after film formation. It is found that the resistivity oscillates with thickness both for unannealed and annealed films. The same kind of oscillatory behaviour with thickness is also observed in the case of defect resistivity. It is argued that the above oscillatory behaviour is due to the oscillatory behaviour of mobility with thickness. It has also been pointed out that the mobility due to scattering by point defect clusters also oscillates with thickness, if the range of the scattering potential is taken to be of the order of the linear dimensions of the clusters. © 1979 Pergamon Press Ltd.

Journal	Thin Solid Films
ISSN	00406090
Open Access	No