Growth, electrical and optical behaviour of nanocrystalline Ag2Cu2O3 films produced by RF magnetron sputtering

Thin films of Ag2Cu2O3 were formed on glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering technique under different oxygen partial pressures in the range 5 x 10(-3) 8 x 10(-2) Pa using mosaic target of Ag70Cu30. The influence of oxygen partial pressure on the core level binding energies, crystallographic structure, and electrical and optical properties of the deposited films was studied. The atomic ratio of copper to silver in the films was 0.302. The oxygen content was in correlation with the oxygen partial pressure maintained during the growth of the films. The films formed at oxygen partial pressures << 2 x 10(-2) Pa was mixed phase of Ag2Cu2O3 and Ag. The films deposited at 2 x 10(-2) Pa were single phase of Ag2Cu2O3. The crystallite size of the films formed at 2 x 10(-2) Pa was 12 nm, while those films annealed at 473 K was 16 nm. The nanocrystalline Ag2Cu2O3 films formed at oxygen partial pressure of 2 x 10(-2) Pa showed electrical resistivity of 8.2 Ocm and optical band gap of 1.95 eV. (C) 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)