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This work reports on the optical, structural, and morphological properties of silver oxide thin films obtained by postoxidation of silver deposited previously by the thermal evaporation technique. The samples were deposited on glass substrates using the oblique angle deposition technique for different angles of incidence <italic>γ</italic> (<italic>γ</italic>=0°, 20°, 40°, 60°, 75°, and 85°). <italic>γ</italic> is defined as the angle between the particle flux and the normal to the substrate. The resulting thin films were annealed in the free air at two temperatures (300°C and 400°C). X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and UV-visible-NIR spectrophotometer were performed to study the crystal structure, as well as the morphological and optical properties (transmittance and reflectance), of the AgxO samples. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the presence of the AgxO phase for the silver films deposited at a high angle of incidence and for the annealing temperature 300°C. In contrast, the diffractograms of the silver films annealed at 400°C show an amorphous behavior. Optical results indicated that the direct band gap energy increases pursuant to increasing the angle of incidence <italic>γ</italic>. The absorption coefficients of AgxO thin films were found to be in the range of 103–105 cm−1. Additionally, we determined the birefringence for the layers annealed at 400°C and found that the highest value of birefringence is obtained corresponding to the angle of incidence 60°. Morphological analysis indicated that the porosity increases with the angle of incidence and highlights the amorphous nature of the films, which is attributed to the columnar structure.
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This work reports on the optical, structural, and morphological properties of silver oxide thin films obtained by postoxidation of silver deposited previously by the thermal evaporation technique. The samples were deposited on glass substrates using the oblique angle deposition technique for different angles of incidence γ (γ=0°, 20°, 40°, 60°, 75°, and 85°). γ is defined as the angle between the particle flux and the normal to the substrate. The resulting thin films were annealed in the free air at two temperatures (300°C and 400°C). X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and UV-visible-NIR spectrophotometer were performed to study the crystal structure, as well as the morphological and optical properties (transmittance and reflectance), of the AgxO samples. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the presence of the AgxO phase for the silver films deposited at a high angle of incidence and for the annealing temperature 300°C. In contrast, the diffractograms of the silver films annealed at 400°C show an amorphous behavior. Optical results indicated that the direct band gap energy increases pursuant to increasing the angle of incidence γ. The absorption coefficients of AgxO thin films were found to be in the range of 103–105 cm−1. Additionally, we determined the birefringence for the layers annealed at 400°C and found that the highest value of birefringence is obtained corresponding to the angle of incidence 60°. Morphological analysis indicated that the porosity increases with the angle of incidence and highlights the amorphous nature of the films, which is attributed to the columnar structure.

Structural, morphological, and optical properties of AgxO thin films deposited via obliquely angle deposition

Materials Science-Poland

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Structural, morphological, and optical properties of AgO thin films deposited via obliquely angle deposition

This work reports on the optical, structural, and morphological properties of silver oxide thin films obtained by postoxidation of silver deposited previously...

Structural, morphological, and optical properties of Ag_xO thin films deposited via obliquely angle deposition

Published Online: Jun 12, 2023

Page range: 27 - 41

Received: Oct 17, 2022

Accepted: Jan 31, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/msp-2023-0002

Keywords
obliquely angle deposition, silver oxide, nanocolumnar AgO thin films, structural characterization, optical analysis, morphological properties

© 2023 H. Ben Soltane et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Structural, morphological, and optical properties of AgxO thin films deposited via obliquely angle deposition

Published Online: Jun 12, 2023

Page range: 27 - 41

Received: Oct 17, 2022

Accepted: Jan 31, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/msp-2023-0002

Keywordsobliquely angle deposition, silver oxide, nanocolumnar AgO thin films, structural characterization, optical analysis, morphological properties

© 2023 H. Ben Soltane et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Structural, morphological, and optical properties of Ag_xO thin films deposited via obliquely angle deposition

Keywords
obliquely angle deposition, silver oxide, nanocolumnar AgO thin films, structural characterization, optical analysis, morphological properties