Study of structural property of <i style="">n</i>-type indium antimonide thin films

Abstract

In present study, the <i style="">n-</i>type indium antimonide (InSb) thin films of thickness 300 nm were deposited on glass substrate at room temperature under the high vacuum ~10^-5 torr using starting materials. The starting materials have been prepared under vacuum ~10^-5 torr in vacuum coating unit using indium (99.999%) and antimony (99.999%) metal powder as source materials with various non-stoichiometric composition as In₁_-xSb_x (0.2 < <i style="">x</i>< 0.4). The Energy Dispersive Analysis of X-rays (EDAX) measurement provides the information of chemical composition (In/Sb) in thin films. X-ray diffraction studies of starting materials and thin films confirmed the formation of InSb with polycrystallinity and orientation of crystallites along the (111) and (220) planes. The surface morphological study of thin films by scanning electron microscope reveals the crystalline nature which was found to be in good agreement with the XRD crystallinity analysis. The particle size (<i style="">D</i>), dislocation density (δ) and strain (<i style="">ε</i>) have been evaluated using XRD data for the starting materials and thin films. It is observed from X-ray diffraction patterns and scanning electron micrographs that particle size, dislocation density and strain are changing with composition ratio (In/Sb) in starting materials and their thin films.