Effect of Heat Treatment on the ac Conductivity and Dielectric Properties of Ag$\text{}_{33}$Sb$\text{}_{31}$Se$\text{}_{36}$ Thin Films

The effect of heat treatment on the ac conductivity and dielectric properties of the melt quenched and thermally evaporated Ag$\text{}_{33}$Sb$\text{}_{31}$Se$\text{}_{36}$ chalcogenide system are reported for the first time. The results of the alternating current conductivity σ$\text{}_{ac}$, the dielectric constantε$\text{}_{1}$, and the dielectric lossε$\text{}_{2}$ of the Ag$\text{}_{33}$Sb$\text{}_{31}$Se$\text{}_{36}$ thin film samples are presented over the temperature range 303-373 K and the frequency range 0.1-100 kHz. The temperature dependence of the ac conductivity σ$\text{}_{ac}$(ω) and the frequency exponent s are discussed with the aim of the correlated barrier hopping model. Values of σ$\text{}_{ac}$(ω),ε$\text{}_{1}$, and ε$\text{}_{2}$ were found to increase with the increase in the annealing temperature due to the reduction of the number of unsaturated defects which decrease the density of localized states in the band structure.