Optical Materials 12 (1999) 115±119

Band gap determination in thick ®lms from re¯ectance

measurements
Vipin Kumar a, Sachin Kr. Sharma a, T.P. Sharma a,*
, V. Singh b

a
Department of Physics, C.C.S. University, Meerut 250 004, India
b
S.G. (P.G.) College, Saroorpur Khurd, Meerut, India
Received 6 March 1998; accepted 6 July 1998

Abstract
Spectroscopic techniques are very useful for characterising semiconducting materials. We demonstrate here a new
formulation and method for measuring the energy band gap in thick ®lms from the re¯ectance data. Ó 1999 Elsevier
Science B.V All rights reserved.

PACS: 78.20.Ci; 78.50.Ge; 78.66.ÿw; 78.66.Hf

Keywords: Band gap; Screen printing; Re¯ection spectra; Semiconductors

1. Introduction Let I0 be the incident intensity of the ®lm surface

In recent years there has been considerable in-
terest in thin ®lm semiconductors for use in vari-
ous devices [1,2]. Studying semiconducting ®lms
required the knowledge of the energy band gap of
the material. We have established one of the sim-
plest methods of determining the energy band gap
[3±6]. In this communication we have given a
method and formulation of the technique used for
®nding energy band gap of thick ®lms in which
only the re¯ection spectra of the ®lm from the ®lm
side is used.
of thickness t; r1 ; r2 and r3 are the re¯ection coef-
®cients at front, inner and rear front faces of the
®lm. As shown in Fig. 1 light is made to fall at
small angle of incidence on the ®lm (5 in our
case). Some part is re¯ected back in the same
medium (air), some part is re¯ected inside the ®lm.
Let A0 be the amplitude of the incident beam. The
amplitudes of re¯ected and refracted beams from
the surface are given by
 
ÿjp
Arefl ˆ A0 r1 exp ; …1†
2

Arefr ˆ A0 …1 ÿ r1 † exp ‰ÿ…a ‡ jb†tŠ; …2†

2. Theory
where a is the attenuation constant, b is the phase
The re¯ectivity of an interface is de®ned as the factor and t is the ®lm thickness. This refracted
ratio of the re¯ected energy to the incident energy. beam is again re¯ected at the inner surface of the
®lm. The amplitude of the wave re¯ected at the
inner face of the interface of medium I and III is
*
Corresponding author. given by
0925-3467/99/$ ± see front matter Ó 1999 Elsevier Science B.V All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 2 5 - 3 4 6 7 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 0 5 2 - 4
116 V. Kumar et al. / Optical Materials 12 (1999) 115±119

so
 
 jp
A ˆ A0 exp ‡ ‰r1 ‡ …1 ÿ r1 †r2 …1 ÿ r3 †
2
 exp …ÿ2…a ÿ jb†t†Š;
hence the intensity of re¯ected beam is
I ˆ AA ;
I ˆ A20 ‰A ‡ B exp …ÿ2…a ‡ jb†t†Š
 ‰A ‡ B exp …ÿ2…a ÿ jb†t†Š;
where A ˆ r1 and
B ˆ …1 ÿ r1 †r2 …1 ÿ r3 †:
So
I ˆ A20 ‰A2 ‡ AB exp …ÿ2…a ‡ jb†t†
Fig. 1. Representation of re¯ection and transmission phenom- ‡ AB exp …ÿ2…a ÿ jb†t† ‡ B2 exp …ÿ4at†Š
enon. i.e.
  I ˆ I0 ‰A2 ‡ 2AB cos…2bt† exp…ÿ2at†
jp
AIrefl ˆ A0 …1 ÿ r1 †r2 exp ‰ÿ…a ‡ jb†tŠ exp ÿ : ‡ B2 exp …ÿ4at†Š;
2
This beam is again re¯ected and refracted at the I ˆ I1 ‡ I2 exp …ÿ2at† ‡ I3 exp …ÿ4at†Š; …3†
rear side of the incident face (interface of medium 2
II & I). The amplitudes of the re¯ected and re- where I1 ˆ I0 A ˆ I0 r12 :
fracted beams are: I2 ˆ 2ABI0 ˆ 2I0 r1 …1 ÿ r1 †r2 …1 ÿ r3 † cos…2bt†;
AII
refl ˆ A0 …1 ÿ r1 †r2 r3 exp ‰ÿ2…a ‡ jb†tŠ 2 2
  I3 ˆ B2 ˆ I0 …1 ÿ r1 † r22 …1 ÿ r3 † :
jp
 exp ÿ ; For the ®lms of thickness large compared with the
2
wave length, the term cos 2bt can be treated as
AII
refr ˆ A0 …1 ÿ r1 †r2 …1 ÿ r3 † exp‰ÿ2…a ‡ jb†tŠ
constant and equal to unity (for thick ®lms bt ˆ
  …2p=k†t is always an even multiple of p therefore
jp
 exp ÿ : cos 2bt ˆ 1). So we take I2 as constant term. Due
2
to higher absorption the third term in Eq. (3) can
Neglecting further re¯ection, we have the resultant be neglected in comparison of the second term, so
amplitude of re¯ected beam:
I ˆ I1 ‡ I2 exp …ÿ2at†; …4†
A ˆ Arefl ‡ AII
refr ;
  where I1 is the re¯ection from the upper surface of
jp the ®lm and I2 exp …ÿ2at† is re¯ection from the
A ˆ A0 r1 exp ÿ ‡ A0 …1 ÿ r1 †r2 …1 ÿ r3 †
2 inner surface. So,
 
jp
 exp ‰ÿ2…a ‡ jb†tŠ  exp ÿ ; I1 ˆ Imin : …5†
2
  From Eqs. (4) and (5) we can write
jp
A ˆ A0 exp ÿ ‰r1 ‡ …1 ÿ r1 †r2 …1 ÿ r3 † I ˆ Imin ‡ I2 exp …ÿ2at†;
2
 exp …ÿ2…a ‡ jb†t†Š; I ÿ Imin ˆ I2 exp …ÿ2at†:
 V. Kumar et al. / Optical Materials 12 (1999) 115±119 117

Taking the logarithm which were conveniently used in a monochromatic

ln …I ÿ Imin † ˆ ln…I2 † ÿ 2at: …
In order to ®nd out ln …I2 † consider the region
where a ˆ 0, there I ˆ Imax or
ln …Imax ÿ Imin † ˆ ln …I2 †; …
system have all been replaced with mirrors. This is
6†
done to eliminate image deviation due to chro-
matic aberration. The PbS detector converges the
light beam with a toroidal mirror located below
7† the photomultiplier. This permits placing the PbS

using Eqs. (6) and (7)

ln …I ÿ Imin † ˆ ln…Imax ÿ Imin † ÿ 2at;
 
…Imax ÿ Imin †
2at ˆ ln
…I ÿ Imin †
 
…Rmax ÿ Rmin †
ˆ ln ; …8†
…R ÿ Rmin †
where R is the re¯ectance and is given by R ˆ I=I0 .
For a direct band gap material, the absorption
coecient
1=2
ahm ˆ A…hm ÿ Eg † ; …9†
where A is a constant which is di€erent for di€er-
ent transitions, Imin is estimated by the fall in re-
¯ection spectra of the ®lm. From Eqs. (8) and (9)
it is clear that there is a proportionality relation
between ln ‰…Rmax ÿ Rmin †=…R ÿ Rmin †Š and a where
Rmax and Rmin are the maximum and minimum re-
¯ectance in re¯ection spectra and R is the re¯ec-
Fig. 2. Re¯ection spectra of CdS sintered ®lm.
tance for any intermediate energy photons
recorded by Hitachi spectrophotometer U-3400.
As in case of absorption spectra, we plot a graph
between …ahm†2 (as ordinate) and hm (as abscissa), a
straight line is obtained. The extrapolation of
2
straight line to …ahm† ˆ 0 axis gives the value of
the direct band gap. Similarly here we plot a graph
between hm (abscissa) and the square of ln ‰hm…Rmax
ÿ Rmin †=…R ÿ Rmin †Š. As the ordinate we can get the
band gap of the semiconductor.

3. Experimental details

We are using here our theory for the measure-

ment of the band gap of some of our sintered ®lms
(like CdS, ZnS, CdZnS). Re¯ection spectra of
these sintered ®lms were taken at room tempera-
ture with the help of Hitachi spectrophotometer
model U-3400. In this model, the prism/grating
double monochromatic system is used. The lenses Fig. 3. Re¯ection spectra of ZnS sintered ®lm.
118 V. Kumar et al. / Optical Materials 12 (1999) 115±119

symmetrically against the sample and reference materials, therefore to measure the energy band
beams, whereby the two beams are completely gap of these ®lms we used Eqs. (8) and (9) and the
balanced. A mechanical chopper is placed before Tauc relation [7] for direct band gap materials.
the ®rst monochromator to chop the light beam
emitted from the light source, with which a devi-
ation in zero signal can be minimized. The visible
wavelength light source is a long life tungsten (wl)
lamp which can be attached easily. The instrument
incorporates the Hitachi microcomputer exclusive
for it to control the mechanisms data processing
and so on.
We have prepared our ®lms on glass substrate
and the thicknesses of the ®lms are of the order of
a micron. Figs. 2 and 3 show the re¯ection spectra
for CdS and ZnS sintered ®lms recorded by the
above described Hitachi spectrophotometer. As
our materials CdS and ZnS are direct band gap

Fig. 5. Energy band gap of ZnS sintered ®lm.

Fig. 6. Re¯ection spectra of Cd0:6 Zn0:4 S ®lm sintered at 500°C

Fig. 4. Energy band gap of CdS sintered ®lm. for 10 min. in air atmosphere.
 V. Kumar et al. / Optical Materials 12 (1999) 115±119
Fig. 7. Energy band gap of Cd0:6 Zn0:4 S sintered ®lm.
According to the above relation we plot …ahm†
2 its energy band gap value. We have veri®ed this
versus …hm† where a is absorption coecient and hm
is the photon energy. The energy band gap deter-
minations for CdS and ZnS sintered ®lms are
shown in Figs. 4 and 5 respectively. The energy
band gap of these ®lms are 2:37 eV for CdS and
3:51 eV for ZnS. Similarly Fig. 6 shows the re-
¯ection spectra for Cd0:6 Zn0:4 S ®lms prepared by
sintering at 500 C for 10 min. Fig. 7 shows the
energy band gap determination of Cd0:6 Zn0:4 S ®lm
Fig. 8. X-ray di€raction of Cd0:6 Zn0:4 S ®lm sintered at 500°C
for 10 min. in air atmosphere.
119
using the Tauc relation. The energy band gap
comes out as 2:82 eV. The structure of CdZnS
®lms is con®rmed by X-ray analysis (using CuKa
radiation (k ˆ 1:5404†). The X-ray di€raction
pattern of sintered Cd0:6 Zn0:4 S ®lm is shown in
Fig. 8 which indicates the formation of the desired
composition. In this XRD all the peaks are iden-
ti®ed except one peak at 34 which may be at-
tributed to the presence of CdCl2 as CdCl2 is used
as adhesive in Cd0:6 Zn0:4 S ®lms.
4. Conclusion
We conclude that re¯ection spectra of a given
semiconducting ®lm are just sucient to calculate
method for several semiconducting materials such
as Si, GaAs, CdSe etc. We found this method
easiest, accurate and fastest for energy band gap
determination.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the ®nancial
support from the Department of Science and
Technology, Govt. of India, to carry out this
work.
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