Investigation of thermal and optical properties of thin WO3 films by the photothermal Deflection Technique

Owing to its novel physical properties, as well as its technological implication in many fields, the thermal and optical properties of WO3 thin films are studied here. These thin films are prepared from Ammonium Tungstate and deposited on a glass substrate at 400 degrees C by the Spray Pyrolysis Technique. The thermal properties (Thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity) were studied by the Photothermal Deflection method in its uniform heating case instead of traditionally a non uniform heating one by comparing the experimental amplitude and phase variations versus square root modulation frequency to the corresponding theoretical ones. The best coincidence between theory and experience is obtained for well-defined values of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity. The optical properties (optical absorption spectrum and gap energy) were measured using the Photothermal Deflection Spectroscopy (PDS) by drawing the amplitude and phase variation versus wavelength in experimental way and versus absorption coefficient in theoretical one at a fixed modulation frequency. By comparing point by point the normalised experimental and corresponding theoretical amplitude variation, one can deduce the optical absorption spectrum. Using the Tauc law for energies above the gap we can deduce the gap energy. We notice that these films show low thermal conductivity and high transparency in the visible range.