Morphology, Bandgap, and Grain Size Tailoring in Cu2O Thin Film by SILAR Method

Copper Oxide thin films have been deposited onto glass substrate with different time for 30 cycles by successive ionic layers by adsorption and reaction method. The layers were grown with different immersion times such as 15, 20, 25, and 30 s, respectively, employing copperthiosulphate aqueous solutions. Crystal phases were attained in all dipping levels. Copper oxide is one of the most promising candidates for nonstoichiometric p-type transparent semiconducting oxide materials. Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy studies confirmed the formation of copper oxide and the characteristic vibrational mode of CuO was identified. Both the structural and surface properties of copper oxide thin films were improved with increase in the deposition time as a result of which the optical absorption edge of copper oxide shifts toward longer wavelengths, the optical bandgap energy vary from 1.43 to 1.96 eV. The crystallinity of the film is high with allow the maximum nucleation process. The room temperature photoluminescence spectrum has also been taken to elucidate the optical emission properties of these thin films.