Studies on dielectric properties, opto-electrical parameters and electronic polarizability of thermally evaporated amorphous Cd50S50−xSex thin films

• Thermally evaporated amorphous Cd50S50−xSex (30 ≤ x ≤ 50) thin films were deposited.
• Refractive index and absorption index were used to determine almost all properties.
• Dielectric properties, Drude parameters and electronic polarizability were studied.
• Addition of more Se to CdSSe matrix led to improve the opto-electrical properties.
• New data were obtained and discussed for amorphous Cd–S–Se thin films.

The objective of this work is to study the influence of the addition of more Se on dielectric properties, opto-electrical parameters and electronic polarizability of amorphous chalcogenide Cd50S50−xSex thin films (30 ≤ x ≤ 50 at%). Thin films of thickness 200 nm were synthesized by vacuum deposition at ≈8.2 × 10−4 Pa. Both refractive index and extinction coefficient were used to obtain all the studied parameters. The high frequency dielectric constant, real and imaginary parts of dielectric constant were discussed. Drude theory was applied to investigate opto-electrical parameters, like optical carrier concentration, optical mobility and optical resistivity. Moreover, other parameters were investigated and studied, e.g. Drude parameters, volume and surface energy loss functions, dielectric loss factor, dielectric relaxation time, complex optical conductivity and electronic polarizability as well as optical electronegativity and third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility. Values of electronic polarizability and nonlinear optical susceptibility were found to be decreased while optical electronegativity increased as Se-content was increased. Increment of Se-content in amorphous Cd50S50−xSex thin films has also led to minimize the energy losses when electromagnetic waves propagate through films as well as optical conductivity and the speed of light increased. The other studied properties and parameters of Cd50S50−xSex films were found to be strongly dependent upon Se-content.