Effect of Laser Pulse Energy on the Optical Properties of Cu₂O Films by Pulsed Laser Deposition

In this work copper oxide films (Cu₂O) were grown by pulsed laser deposition. The films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and their thickness by using profilometer while the UV-VIS absorption spectra were recorded by using UV-VIS spectrometer. Pulsed Nd:YAG laser was used with varying its pulse energy, with distance between target and substrate 1 cm, and substrate temperature at room temperature, vacuum pressure was fixed at 6×10¯² mbar, number of pulses = 1000. The optical properties of as-grown film like energy gap has been measured experimentally and the effects of laser pulse energy on it were studied. There is linear relation between energy gap and pulse energy. The specific energy gap of Cu₂O film can be controlled by changing laser pulse energy and fixing other pulsed laser deposition parameter such as substrate temperature, distance between target and substrate, background pressure and number of pulses.