Optical properties of amorphous (As0.33S0.67)100−xTex (x = 0, 1, 5 and 10) chalcogenide thin films, photodoped step-by-step with silver

We have analysed in detail the effect of silver-content on the optical properties of Ag-photodoped amorphous (As0.33S0.67)100−xTex (with x = 0, 1, 5 and 10 at.%) chalcogenide thin films; the chalcogenide host layers were prepared by vacuum thermal evaporation. Films of composition Agy[(As0.33S0.67)100−xTex]100−y, with y ≲ 18 at.%, were successfully obtained by successively photodissolving about 20- or 40-nm-thick layers of silver. The optical constants (n, k) have been accurately determined by an improved envelope method [J.M. González-Leal, R. Prieto-Alcón, J.A. Angel, D.A. Minkov, E. Márquez, Appl. Opt. 41 (2002) 7300], based on the two envelope curves of the optical-transmission spectrum, obtained at normal incidence. The dispersion of the refractive index of the Ag-photodoped chalcogenide films is analysed in terms of the Wemple–DiDomenico single-effective-oscillator model: n 2 ( ℏ ω ) = 1 - E o E d / ( E o 2 - ( ℏ ω ) 2 ) , where Eo is the single-oscillator energy, and Ed the dispersion energy. We found that the refractive index of the Ag-doped samples strongly increases with the Ag-content, whereas the optical band gap, E g opt , decreases also notably. For instance, in the particular case of x = 10 at.%, the largest Te-content, E g opt decreases from 2.17 down to 1.67 eV. It should also be mentioned that, in the case of the undoped samples, when the Te-concentration increases from zero up to 10 at.%, the value of E g opt decreases from 2.49 down to 2.17 eV.