Effect of high electronic energy loss of 100 MeV gold heavy ions in copper chalcogenides (CuX, X = S, Se) at nanoscale: Opto-electronic properties study

Abstract The copper chalcogenide (CuX, X = S, Se) thin films have been irradiated with 100 MeV gold swift heavy ions (SHI) at 10 11 and 10 12 ions/cm 2 fluences. The irradiation effects were probed by characterizing physical properties such as XRD, AFM, optical band gap and electrical resistivity of copper chalcogenide thin films. The increase in irradiation fluence increases the particle size, electrical conductivity and PL intensity of the materials, and the optical band edges were red shifted. The results are explained by quantifying electronic energy loss of ions in both the materials.