Determination of the optical band gap for amorphous and nanocrystalline copper oxide thin films prepared by SILAR technique

Amorphous copper oxide films were deposited using the SILAR technique. Both Cu2O and CuO crystallographic phases exist in deposited and annealed films. Crystallization and growth processes by annealing at temperatures up to 823 K form grains with nano- and micro-spherical shapes. The calculated crystallite size from the XRD measurement was found to be in the range 14–21 nm while nano-spheres in the diameter range 50–100 nm were observed by SEM micrographs. The band gap for amorphous film was found to be 2.3 eV which increased slowly to 2.4 eV by annealing the film at 373 K. This was explained by defect redistribution in amorphous films. Annealing in the temperature range 373–673 K decreased the band gap gradually to 1.85 eV. The decrease of the band gap with annealing temperature in the range 373–673 K agrees well with the Brus model of the energy gap confinement effect in nanostructured semiconducting materials. Annealing in the temperature range 673–823 K decreases the band gap slowly to 1.7 eV due to the smaller contribution of the confinement effect. Below 573 K, Cu2O is the most probable crystalline phase in the film, while Cu2O and CuO crystalline phases may coexist at annealing temperatures above 573 K due to further oxidation of Cu2O. A wider transmittance spectral window in the visible region was obtained by controlling the annealing conditions of the amorphous copper oxide film and its applicability to the window layer of solar cell was suggested.