The structural and electrical characterization of europium sulfide thin films prepared with E-beam evaporation

Abstract

In this study, EuS thin films with varying thicknesses (15, 25, and 50 nm) were deposited onto a Si/SiO2 substrate using e-beam evaporation. Subsequently, two Ag contact electrodes with a 0.2 mm spacing were prepared via thermal evaporation using a shadow mask. To investigate the influence of film thickness and temperature on the electrical properties of EuS thin films, current-voltage (I–V) measurements were performed in a temperature range of 300–433 K for a voltage range of −2 V to +2 V. The I–V characteristics exhibited a temperature-dependent behavior, particularly showing an increase in current with rising temperature in the forward bias region. Furthermore, an improvement in the Schottky behavior was observed with increasing EuS film thickness. Additionally, the AC electrical and dielectric properties of the EuS thin film were examined in a frequency range of 4 Hz–8 MHz. Capacitance, conductance, impedance, and the Cole–Cole characteristic of EuS were analyzed in detail with respect to frequency, temperature, and film thicknesses.