Correlated structural and optical properties of thin Eu oxide films

In this work, europium oxide films have been prepared by the vacuum evaporation method on glass substrates at room temperature. Detailed structural and optical properties of the films with respect to varying of annealing temperature are presented and discussed. Samples were tested by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) analysis. The absorption corrected X-ray fluorescence yield was utilized for quantitative analysis. Films of around 123.0 nm thickness were shown to be amorphous, but they become polycrystalline when annealed at 600 °C for 48 h. Spectral absorption coefficient of the films in the fundamental absorption region (250–400 nm) was determined by using the spectral data of transmittance. The band-gap energy was determined to be about 4.63 eV.