Microstructural and optical properties of Sn4Sb6S13 nanocrystals deposited on PAA templates

[Display omitted] •The prepared Sn4Sb6S13 (TAS) thin film on PAA at different deposition temperatures results an evolution in the crystal sizes and shapes at the surface.•XRD and Raman patterns presented an increase in the peak intensity and a change in the peaks position toward higher energy indicating the crystalline quality enhancement.•The average R% spectra decreased significantly from 71.6% for the PAA layer to 59.9%, indicating the large absorbance of the deposited compound on PAA substrates.•The average reflectivity of TAS/PAA multilayered structure increases significantly from 59.9%–61.4% by increasing substrate temperature from 30 to 140 °C, owing to an improvement in the film crystallization.•The refractive index (n), extinction coefficient (k), the real and imaginary dielectric constants, as well as the thickness of TAS/PAA multilayers were estimated from the ellipsometric measurements. In this study, the Sn4Sb6S13 (TAS) nanocrystals were grown on the porous anodic alumina (PAA) templates through the vacuum thermal evaporation process at different deposition temperatures. The influence of deposition temperature on the microstructural and optical properties of TAS/PAA was investigated systematically. As the substrate temperature is increased, crystallite size increases while the strain and the dislocation density decrease. An improvement of the crystallinity is deduced from Raman spectra and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. The homogeneous distribution of TAS nanocrystals on PAA substrates was observed from surface morphology by using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The average reflectance of TAS/PAA films decreased significantly from 77 % to 60 % in the visible and near-infrared spectral regions, indicating the large absorbance of the deposited thin film. The optical parameters and thickness of TAS/PAA layers were estimated on the basis of spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements.