Opto-electronic properties of bismuth oxide films presenting different crystallographic phases

Abstract The optical, electrical and structural properties of bismuth oxide thin films deposited by radio frequency reactive magnetron sputtering were studied. The Bi2O3 thin films were grown on Si and glass substrates under different power and substrate temperatures in an oxygen-enriched plasma leading to films with different crystalline phase as evidenced by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The optical properties of the films were measured using ellipsometric spectroscopy and optical transmission spectra. In order to parameterize the optical dispersion functions (n, k) of the films, the Tauc–Lorentz dispersion model was used. The optical bandgap was then assessed by different methods and the results are compared to the thermal variations of the electrical resistivity of the films. It was found that the refractive index, extinction coefficient and optical gap strongly depend on the deposition conditions and the crystalline phase; the fluorite defect cubic δ-Bi2O3 phase showed the lowest optical gap and lower resistivity.