Surface morphological and elemental analysis of thermally evaporated Cu2O: Ag thin films

Pure cuprous oxide (Cu2O) and doped with silver nanoparticles (Cu2O:Ag) thin films at an average thickness of (60±3) nm were fabricated using vacuum thermal evaporation technique at a deposition rate of 0.5 nm/s, then the deposited films were annealed at 573 K for 2.5 h. The regular surface morpholo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tuama, Alaa Nihad, Abass, Khalid Haneen, Tuama, Doaa Nihad, Agam, Mohd Arif Bin
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Copper oxides
Deposition
Evaporation rate
Grain size
High vacuum
Homogeneity
Image resolution
Low pressure
Morphology
Nanoparticles
Optoelectronic devices
Photovoltaic cells
Silver
Solar cells
Substrates
Surface diffusion
Thickness
Thin films
Topology
Vacuum thermal evaporation
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Summary:Pure cuprous oxide (Cu2O) and doped with silver nanoparticles (Cu2O:Ag) thin films at an average thickness of (60±3) nm were fabricated using vacuum thermal evaporation technique at a deposition rate of 0.5 nm/s, then the deposited films were annealed at 573 K for 2.5 h. The regular surface morphology of the fabricated films was obtained using controlled thermal evaporation parameters. High-resolution FESEM images combined with the 3D AFM images demonstrated the surface morphology, roughness, shape, and size of the evaporated material. The surface morphological, elemental, and morphology analysis of the fabricated films of the deposited films exhibit the growth of pure and Ag-doped Cu2O films with large surface diffusion on the used substrates. The thermal evaporation process can proceed continuously under high vacuum ambient providing an economic and easy method to fabricate high purity Cu2O films. As-grown films surface exhibited a smooth morphology and occur with homogeneous clusters that are uniformly distributed with a grain size of about (18-24 nm). The As-grown film homogeneity was obtained by controlling the deposition at low-pressure circumstances (1×10−7 mbar). The observed morphological and topology properties could give rise to use of the fabricated pure and Ag-doped Cu2O films as active layers in solar cell devices and optoelectronic applications.
ISSN:0094-243X
1551-7616
DOI:10.1063/5.0103929