Epitaxial Growth of AgxCu1−xI on Al2O3(0001). Issue 2 (11th December 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Krüger, Evgeny; Gottschalch, Volker; Benndorf, Gabriele; Hildebrandt, Ron; Pereira, Ana Lucía; Bar, Michael S.; Blaurock, Steffen; Merker, Stefan; Sturm, Chris; Grundmann, Marius; Krautscheid, Harald
• Is Part Of: Physica status solidi. Volume 260:Issue 2(2023)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2022-12-11
• Subjects: halides -- silver–copper iodide -- transparent conductive materials -- vapor phase epitaxy; Solid state physics -- Periodicals; Solids -- Periodicals; Atomic structure -- Periodicals; 530.41
• DOI: 10.1002/pssb.202200493
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0370-1972

Abstract

Abstract : Herein, the epitaxial growth of Ag x Cu 1 − x I alloy layers and isolated small crystals on Al 2 O 3 ( 0001 ) using close distance sublimation (CDS) technique is presented. Single‐phase γ - Ag x Cu 1 − x I thin films are fabricated up to an Ag content of x ≈ 0.5, while at higher Ag contents the β‐phase is also observed. The epitaxial relationships between the deposited Ag x Cu 1 − x I layers and the Al 2 O 3 substrate as well as the structure type are discussed for different alloy compositions. In addition, a further approach is presented for deposition of polycrystalline single‐phase γ - Ag x Cu 1 − x I thin films for Ag contents up to x ≈ 0.7 based on the solid‐state reaction of AgI layers on Al 2 O 3 ( 0001 ) substrate with CuI. Furthermore, for differently prepared samples it is shown that the near‐band‐edge emission at 2 K is dominated by excitonic recombination, whereas the spectral position of the emission profile can be tuned by the alloy composition. Abstract : Epitaxial growth of Ag x Cu1− x I layers on Al2 O3 substrates is demonstrated using close distance sublimation technique. While epitaxial single‐phase γ‐Ag x Cu1− x I films are obtained for Ag contents up to x = 0.5, coexistence of γ‐ and β‐phases is demonstrated for higher Ag contents. Furthermore, the influence of the alloy composition on the vibrational and optical properties is presented.