Preparation and electrical and optical properties of TbS films

Thin crystalline TbS films have been grown for the first time by flash evaporation in vacuum using a presynthesized bulk material. The resistivity, Hall coefficient, and thermoelectric power of the films have been measured as functions of temperature in the temperature range 100–500 K, and their reflection and absorption spectra have been obtained at room temperature and photon energies in the range 0.06–6 eV. Graphical analysis of frequency-dependent absorption data has shown that the observed short-wavelength increase in absorption is due to indirect electron transitions.