Optical properties of thermally evaporated 4-(4-nitrobenzalideneamino) antipyrine Schiff base thin films

4-(4-nitrobenzalideneamino) antipyrine (NBAA) have been synthesized by refluxed ethanolic solution of 4-aminoantipyrine and p-nitrobenzaldehyde for 4 h and characterized with various physico-chemical techniques. Thin films of NBAA have been prepared by the thermal deposition technique in a vacuum of 1.5 × 10⁻⁵ mbar onto optical flat glass substrates. X-ray diffraction patterns show amorphous nature for all NBAA thin films except UV irradiated thin film which shows amorphous nature with some crystallinity but with small amount. The optical constants of thermally deposited NBAA thin film were investigated in the wavelength range 200–2500 nm. The type of optical transition near the edge of the band gap is found to be indirect allowed transition. The effect of UV irradiation as well as the effect of annealing on the optical properties of NBAA thin films was investigated. The value of the energy gap for thin films under investigation is calculated and found to be 1.56 eV for as-deposited, 1.45 eV for annealed and 1.82 eV for UV irradiation.