Temperature dependence of band gaps in sputtered SnSe thin films

Abstract

Temperature-dependent transmission experiments were performed for tin selenide (SnSe) thin films deposited by rf magnetron sputtering method in between 10 and 300 K and in the wavelength region of 400-1000 nm. Transmission spectra exhibited sharp decrease near the absorption edge around 900 nm. The transmittance spectra were analyzed using Tauc relation and first derivative spectroscopy techniques to get band gap energy of the SnSe thin films. Both of the applied methods resulted in existence of two band gaps with energies around 1.34 and 1.56 eV. The origin of these band gaps was investigated and it was assigned to the splitting of valence band into two bands due to spin-orbit interaction. Alteration of these band gap values due to varying sample temperature of the thin films were also explored in the study. It was seen that the gap energy values increased almost linearly with decreasing temperature as expected according to theoretical knowledge.