Structural, mechanical and opto-thermal properties of non-crystalline Sb O thin films

Abstract Sb x O y oxides thin films have been prepared on glass substrates by a heat treatment of Sb thermal evaporated thin films in air atmosphere. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the films annealed at Tr = 550 °C are well constituted of the Sb 2 O 4 orthorhombic phase with elements oriented preferentially towards (004) direction. In the same way, from the optical transmission T ( λ ) and reflection R ( λ ) curves, the study of the absorption coefficient of these films versus incident energy revealed that the value of the band gap energy of Sb 2 O 4 oxide is of the order of 3.9 eV. Mechanical and opto-thermal original investigations confirmed the annealing temperature-related enhancement of the fabricated layers.