Effect of cadmium addition on the optical constants of thermally evaporated amorphous Se–S–Cd thin films

Se₇₅S_25−xCd_x is a promising ternary material, which has received considerable attention due to its applications in the fabrication of various solid state devices. These have distinct advantages, large packing density, mass replication, fast data rate, high signal-to-noise ratio and high immunity to defects. Measurements of optical constants (absorption coefficient, refractive index, extinction coefficient, real and imaginary part of the dielectric constant) have been made on Se₇₅S_25−xCd_x (where x = 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8) thin films of thickness 3000 Å as a function of photon energy in the wave length range 400–1000 nm. It has been found that the optical band gap and extinction coefficient increases while the value refractive index decreases on incorporation of cadmium in Se–S system. The results are interpreted in terms of the change in concentration of localized states due to the shift in Fermi level. Due to the large absorption coefficient and compositional dependence of reflectance, these materials may be suitable for optical disk material.