Intensive studies on the structural and optoelectrical characterization of the KVO3 thin films and characterization of ITO/KVO3/Cu2O/Al heterojunction
摘要
This study utilized the spray pyrolysis technique to fabricate KVO3 layers of varying thicknesses at 230 °C. The X-ray analysis of the KVO3 layers indicated that these layers exhibit a polycrystalline structure through an orthorhombic phase. The EDX spectrum of the KVO3 layers confirmed the presence of K, V, and O peaks at their respective energy levels, thereby validating the presence of stoichiometric components. The microstructural results indicate that the increase in film thickness increased the crystallite size of the as-prepared KVO3 layers from 31.36 to 66.48 nm while reducing the dislocation density and lattice strain of the investigated KVO3 layers. The transmittance data for the KVO3 layers demonstrated transmittance values exceeding 85%, which decreased with increasing thickness. The absorption coefficient analysis indicated a direct energy gap that decreased from 3.25 to 2.61 eV as the thickness of the KVO3 layers increased. Furthermore, the optoelectrical parameters, including the values of optical dielectric constant, plasma frequency, electrical conductivity, and optical carrier concentration, were improved. The study of nonlinear optical characteristics of the KVO3 layers refers to enhancing the nonlinear optical constants of the KVO3 samples by increasing the thickness. Meanwhile, the hot probe procedure validated that KVO3 layers exhibit n-type semiconducting characteristics. The results indicate that KVO3 layers may serve effectively as a window layer for solar cells and as a viable option in optoelectronic applications. The ITO/KVO3/Cu2O/Al heterojunction was fabricated. This heterojunction device exhibits a solar conversion efficiency of 1.7%. The findings indicated that these KVO3 samples may serve as a novel window layer.