An Analytical Study Of The Optical Properties Of Copper-Antimony Sulphide Thin Films And Possible Applications Of The Film

Copper-antimony sulphide thin films were successfully deposited on glass substrates at different dip time using solution growth technique. Optical studies of the grown films are presented. Transmittance and reflectance measurements were obtained from an AVASPEC-2048 UV/VIS/NIR spectrophotometer in the wavelength range of 200-900nm. The thickness of the films was obtained by surface profile analysis using a Dektak Veeko-150 stylus surface profiler. The thickness obtained for the films were in the range of 1.0 mu m to 1.45 mu m depending on the dip time. Results show that the film exhibited poor transmittance and high reflectance of solar radiation in the Infra-Red (IR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum respectively. A high absorption coefficient in the range of 3.11 x 10 super( 6) m super( -1) to 4.35 x 10 super( 6) m super( -1) was obtained for the film in the Ultra-Violet (UV) region of the electromagnetic spectrum depending on the dip time. Other properties studied include optical conductivity, dielectric function, extinction coefficient and refractive index respectively. Optical studies reveal that this material could be exploited for various purposes which include being used as an absorber material for the construction of solar cells, for the fabrication of optical devices and for the manufacture of highly reflective mirrors commonly found in desktop scanners, photocopy machines, halogen lamps, astronomical telescope and car head lamps. The material was observed to have a direct band gap between 2.05eV and 2.85eV depending on the dip time.