CW-Ar+ laser induced structural and optical properties of amorphous Sb2Se3 films

Amorphous and polycrystalline Sb2Se3 films (95–350nm) were prepared by thermal evaporation under a vacuum of 1.33×10−3Pa onto well cleaned glass substrates by maintaining the substrate temperature at 303 and 493K respectively. Structure of the deposited films were analysed using XRD and scanning electron microscope. The stoichiometric composition of the films have been achieved by controlling the rate of evaporation and confirmed by EDAX and RBS techniques. Using a beam probe technique, in which the CW-Ar+ laser is used as a source to induce crystalline phase change over amorphous Sb2Se3 films and low power He-Ne laser is used as probe beam to study the transmission characteristics of irradiated spots. This study provides valuable information about optical recording characteristic of Sb2Se3 films and its use as phase change optical storage device using highly focussed laser beam in the area of high density information storage media. The effect of power, power density, time of laser irradiation, scanning speed and thicknesses of films on percentage change in transmittance were investigated and the results are analysed based on amorphous-crystalline phase transformation.