Effect of heat treatment on the optical absorption of tin diselenide thin films

Optical absorption measurements were made on tin diselenide thin films grown on glass substrates by thermal evaporation of stoichiometric bulk compound. In the as‐deposited films, optical absorption was dominated by an indirect transition at lower photon energies with a band gap of 1.4 eV. The direct allowed transition with a band gap of 1.62 eV was predominant at higher energies. Annealing the film at elevated temperatures resulted in the decrease of both the direct and indirect transition band gaps.