In situ observations of the permanent structural modifications, phase transformations and band gap narrowing upon heating of Cu2Se/Yb/Cu2Se films

In this study, we have investigated the temperature dependent structural, optical and dielectric properties of Cu2Se thin films that are nanosandwiched with 50 nm thick ytterbium slab (CYC). The X-ray diffraction monitoring of the films during the heating process in the temperature range of 293–473 K has shown that the CYC films which contain both of the cubic and orthorhombic phases in its structure exhibits lattice expansion that increases the grain size and decreases the defect density, stacking faults and microstrain by 12.5% and by 28.9%, 12.8% and 11.3%, respectively. The CYC films show enhanced permanent crystallinity presented by high degree of orientation with reduction of the weight of the orthorhombic phase after cooling. On the other hand, a red shift in the energy band gap value is observed during the heating process. The analysis of the temperature dependent optical properties has shown a good correlation between the lattice expansion and energy band gap narrowing. In additions, the CYC samples are observed to exhibit negative capacitance effect that nominates the material for use in electronic circuits. The negativity of the capacitance decreased with increasing temperature due to the reduction in the defect density.