LAB REPORT ON,

To study the optical characteristics of gold implanted MoO3(molybdenum

trioxide) thin film and find the bandgap.

Ashis Kumar Panigrahi

Predoc
AIM OF THE EXPERIMENT
To study the optical characteristics of gold implanted MoO3(molybdenum trioxide) thin film
and find the bandgap.

THEORY
Facts about MoO3 material
Transition metal oxides are an important class of solids with n-type conductivity and find many
applications in thin film form. Among transition metal oxides MoO3 (Molybodenum
Trioxide) exhibits an improvement in its various physical and chemical property as a nano
material.
MoO3 exhibits a suitable work function, adjustable electronic structure, favorable ohmic
contact with organic materials, remarkable stability in the presence of water and oxygen, and
excellent solution processing properties.
Among various physical properties exhibited by MoO3 electrochromism and photochromism
is an interesting physical property which find many applications in making display devices and
smart windows. Recent studies also proved that MoO3 is potential as an ion conducting layer
in fabrication of solar cells. MoO3 as thin film and especially as nanocrystalline exhibit an
improvement in electrochromic behaviour, like enhancement in ionic conductivity, coloration
efficiency, optical density, fast response etc.
What are thin films?
The thin film is a layer of material that has a thickness in the range of a nanometer to several
micrometers. Creating thin films using different deposition methods is the basis of many industries. As
a simple example, consider a mirror that reflects light with a layer of metal which deposited behind the
glass. Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) methods, such as sputtering, thermal evaporation, and pulsed
laser deposition (PLD), to create types of thin films.

Thin Film Applications

Improvement of a lot of industries in the last century is due to the development of deposition
methods. These industries include semiconductor electronics, integrated circuits, LEDs, optical
coating, hard coatings in order to protect tools, medicine and many other industries.

They have several applications in various fields; furthermore, they play a significant role in the
study and development of materials with unique and special properties, such as the superlattices
which make it possible to study quantum phenomena. In addition, they are very important
because they differentiate the properties and reactions of the material surface from its bulk and
they have a wide range of properties that can be used in a variety of applications.
Thin films can be categorized as follows:

1. Optical thin films: Used to create reflective coatings, anti-reflective coatings, solar cells
monitors, waveguides and optical detector arrays
2. Electrical or electronic thin films: Used to make insulators, conductors, semiconductor devices,
integrated circuits and piezoelectric drives
3. Magnetic thin films: Usually used to make memory disks
4. Chemical thin films: They are used to create resistance to alloying, diffusion, corrosion and
oxidation, as well as to make gas and liquid sensors
5. Mechanical thin films: Tribological coatings to protect against abrasion, increase hardness and
adhesion and use of micro-mechanical properties
6. Thermal thin films: They are used to create insulation layers and heat sinks.

Growth modes

1. Frank van der Merwe growth (layer by layer):

In this growth mode the adsorbate-surface and adsorbate-adsorbate interactions are balanced. This
type of growth requires lattice matching, and hence considered an "ideal" growth mechanism.

2. Stranski-Krastanov growth (layer + island):

In this growth mode the adsorbate-surface interactions are stronger than adsorbate-adsorbate
interactions.

3. Volmer Weber (Isolated Island):

In this growth mode the adsorbate-adsorbate interactions are stronger than adsorbate-surface
interactions, hence "islands" are formed immediately.

(layer by layer) (layer + island) (isolated island)

PVD system

High vacuum coating unit,IOP,BBSR schematic of thermal evaporation system

Physical vapor deposition (PVD) is a thin film deposition process in which atoms or
molecules of a material are vaporized from a solid source in high vacuum and condense on a
substrate. The PVD processes can be used to deposit films of metals, alloys, metal oxides,
and some composite materials on a variety of substrates.

PVD is used to deposit films ranging from of a few angstroms to thousands of angstroms in
thickness. The films can be of single materials, layers with graded composition, multilayer
coatings.

The most common PVD processes are:

 Thermal evaporation - material from a heated vaporization source reaches the

substrate and condenses on it
 Sputter deposition - source of vaporized material is a target being subjected to
bombardment with Ar ions

PVD has important advantages compared to other thin film deposition techniques:
PVD coatings exhibit superior hardness, durability and resistance to wear and are
more corrosion resistant. Most PVD coatings have high temperature and good impact
strength; they have excellent abrasion resistance. The ability to utilize virtually any
 type of inorganic material on a diverse group of substrates and surfaces makes PVD a
very popular choice for fabricating thin films. Last but not least PVD coatings can be
applied with no toxic residues or by-products and are safe for the environment.

Ion implantation
It is a process in which ions of one element are accelerated into a solid target, thereby
changing the physical, chemical or electrical properties of the target.
This is used in semiconductor device fabrication and in metal finishing as well as material
science research.

UV-VIS Spectroscopy
UV-VIS spectroscopy is a powerful analytical technique to determine the optical properties
such as transmittance, reflectance and absorbance of the given sample (solids/liquids). It can
be applied to characterize semiconductor materials, coating, glass and many other materials.
1. Reflectance
The reflectance of a material is the ability of the material to reflect the energy incident
on its surface.
2. Transmittance
It is the fraction of incident light which is transmitted. That means it is the amount of
light that successfully passes through the substance.
𝐼
𝑇=
𝐼
I = Transmitted light; I0 = Incident light
3. Absorbance
It is the measure of the quantity absorbed by a sample. It is also known as optical
density.
The Absorption Coefficient(α)
From Beer-Lambert law, we have
I = Io e -αx
⇨ (I/Io) = e -αx = e -αl
Log(I/Io)=log(e -αl )=-αl log(e)=- αl log(0.4343)
Log(Io /I)=(0.4343) αl , α=2.302

Bandgap
The difference in energy between the valence band and conduction band of a material is
called Bandgap.
The presence of bandgap as well as its size can help us to understand the electronic behaviour
of a material and distinguish electrical insulators, conductors and semiconductors.

And now for calculation of bandgap we will follow Tauc’s equation.

Formula used: 𝛼ℎ𝜈 = 𝐴(ℎ𝜈 − 𝐸 )

where 𝛼 is the absorption coefficient,
h is the Plank’s constant
𝜈 is the frequency of the photon
𝐸 is the energy band gap
And A is a constant.
For Indirect allowed transition, we take 𝛾 = 1/2
Direct allowed transition 𝛾 = 2

PROCEDURE
First we had taken a Silicon substrate and cleaned it. Then we had grown a thin film of Moo3
on the substrate with the help of physical vapour deposition system(thermal evaporation).
Thin film growth had done in room temperature on that silicon substrate and thickness was
about 100 nm.
Gold(Au) ions were used for implantation with the help of low energy negative ion beam
facility.
The fluences that were done are 5 x1015and 5 x 1016 ions/cm2.
Then for optical characterisation we had done Diffused Reflectance Spectroscopy with the
help of UV-VIS photospectrometre and we measured the absorbance data.
RESULTS
We have obtained the data for absorbance vs wavelength for the given sample and we shall now
plot the curves from which we shall find the band gap by using Tauc’s idea.

First we shall plot absorbance vs wavelength plot for the two fluences along with the
reference data.

1.4
Absorbance Vs Wavelength
1.2

1
Absorbance(a.u.)

0.8

0.6 5* 10-15
5* 10-16
0.4 AS deposited

0.2
200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
wavelength(nm)

(Absorbance vs wavelength plot)

Now we shall plot the Tauc plot in order to calculate band gap for the reference data of
absorbance and for the two fluences.
And now for calculation of bandgap we will follow Tauc’s equation.

Formula used: 𝛼ℎ𝜈 = 𝐴(ℎ𝜈 − 𝐸 )

where 𝛼 is the absorption coefficient,
h is the Plank’s constant
𝜈 is the frequency of the photon
𝐸 is the energy band gap
And A is a constant.
For Indirect allowed transition, we take 𝛾 = 1/2
Direct allowed transition 𝛾 = 2
 Here we have plotted (𝛼ℎ𝜈) vs energy.

The dotted line represents the trendline, over which the slope remains almost
constant.
The equation of the trendline is y = 1E+15x - 3E+15

At y = 0, x gives the value of the band gap 𝐸

So, we extrapolate the trendline and find the band gap to be 3eV.
 The dotted line represents the trendline, over which the slope remains almost
constant.
The equation of the trendline is y = 1061.4x + 1429

At y = 0, x gives the value of the band gap 𝐸

So, we extrapolate the trendline and find the band gap to be -1.34eV

Tauc Plot(5*10^(16)) for 𝛾=2

6E+15

5E+15
y = 2E+15x - 7E+15
4E+15
(αhν)^(2)

3E+15

2E+15

1E+15

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Energy(eV)

The dotted line represents the trendline, over which the slope remains almost
constant.
The equation of the trendline is y =2E+15x - 7E+15
At y = 0, x gives the value of the band gap 𝐸

So, we extrapolate the trendline and find the band gap to be 3.5 eV
 Tauc Plot(5*10^(16))for y=1/2
10000
9000
8000
y = 1302.2x + 1579.2
7000
(αhν)^(1/2)

6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Energy(eV)

The dotted line represents the trendline, over which the slope remains almost
constant.
The equation of the trendline is y = 1302.2x + 1579.2
At y = 0, x gives the value of the band gap 𝐸

So, we extrapolate the trendline and find the band gap to be -1.2127 eV

Tauc plot (5*10^(15))for y=2

4.5E+15
4E+15
3.5E+15
3E+15 y = 1E+15x - 3E+15
(αhν)^(2)

2.5E+15
2E+15
1.5E+15
1E+15
5E+14
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Energy(eV)

The dotted line represents the trendline, over which the slope remains almost
constant.
The equation of the trendline is y=1E+15x - 3E+15
At y = 0, x gives the value of the band gap 𝐸

So, we extrapolate the trendline and find the band gap to be 3 eV

 Tauc plot (5*10^(15))for y=1/2
9000
8000
y = 954.35x + 2742.2
7000
6000
(αhν)^(1/2)

5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Energy(eV)

The dotted line represents the trendline, over which the slope remains almost
constant.
The equation of the trendline is y =954.35x + 2742.2
At y = 0, x gives the value of the band gap 𝐸

So, we extrapolate the trendline and find the band gap to be -2.87 eV

CONCLUSION
By using the UV-VIS Photospectrometre device we precisely plotted the absorbance data of
our sample for two ion fluences 5 x1015and 5 x 1016 ions/cm2 and the bandgap is also
calculated precisely.