Study of transport properties co – evaporated lead telluride (PbTe) thin films

Abstract

Abstract Thin films of lead telluride (PbTe) of thicknesses ranging from 1000 Å to 2500 Å have been prepared by co‐evaporation (three temperature) technique, onto precleaned amorphous glass substrates at various temperatures. The deposited samples were annealed and annealed samples were used for characterization. Resistivity of these samples was measured by four‐probe technique as a function of thickness and temperature. Activation energy for charge transport have been evaluated and found in the range of 0.09 to 0.106 eV. Thermoelectric power has been measured and found to be positive indicating that the samples are p‐type semiconducting material. Mobility variation with temperature has been estimated (evaluated) and correlated with scattering mechanism in the entire range of temperature studied. The X‐ray diffraction analysis confirmed that films are polycrystalline having cubic structure cell and lattice parameters are reported.