STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION AND ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF a- S/Sb RATIO THIN FILMS.

Thin films of amorphous SbxS100-x (x=10, 20, 30 and 40 at %) were prepared by thermal evaporation technique. The films were annealed at 510K for 2h, and investigated by X-ray diffraction patterns. The results showed a crystallization of the annealed films with different degrees depending on the access of the coordination number due to Sb substitution in S atoms. Electrical conductivity measurements were carried out on as-deposited and annealed films in the temperature range 300-600K. The results indicated that the conductivity of the annealed films is higher than as-deposited films, which confirms the transformation of the amorphous films to a crystalline state as derived from X-ray diffraction analysis. The obtained results were explained according to the presence of nucleation centers for crystallization due to Sb substitution in S atoms which grows by annealing.