Growth of ZnTe films by pulsed laser deposition technique

Polycrystalline zinc telluride films were successfully deposited on glass substrates at different temperatures ranging from 300 K to 773 K by ablating a ZnTe target (99.99%) by a pulsed laser beam. Microstructural studies indicated an increase in the average crystallite size from 40 nm to similar to 75 nm with the increase in substrate temperature during deposition. X-ray diffraction patterns indicated that structure of the films depended on the deposition temperature. The band gap as determined from the transmittance versus wavelength traces was found to vary between 2.32 and 2.38 eV. The PL spectra measured at 300 K were dominated by a strong peak located at similar to 1.77 eV which overshadowed the band edge luminescence peak at similar to 2.23 eV. Characteristics Raman peaks for ZnTe at similar to 173 cm (1) (TO) and similar to 199 cm (1) (LO) were also observed. (C) 2012 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.