Effect of silver doping on the electrical properties of a-Sb2Se3

This paper reports the effect of Ag-doping on electrical properties of a-Sb2Se3 in the temperature range 230–340 K and frequency range 5–100 kHz. The variation of transport properties with thermal doping has been studied. Ag-doping produces two homogeneous phases in the sample, which are found to be voltage dependent in the temperature range studied and frequency dependent in lower frequency region (0.1–10 kHz). Activation energy Eg and C′ [= σ0 exp (γ/k), where γ, is the temperature coefficient of the band gap] calculated from dc conductivity has been found to vary from (0.42 ± 0.01) eV to (0.26 ± 0.01) eV and (4.11 ± 0.01) × 10−5 to (2.90 ± 0.02) × 10−6 Ω−1 cm−1 respectively. Ag-doping can be used to make the sample useful in device applications.