Pulsed laser deposition: A viable route for the growth of aluminum antimonide film

• Synthesis of polycrystalline AlSb films by the PLD technique.
• Optical transitions at Eg(indir)~1.56 eV and Eg(dir)~2.11 eV.
• PL peak at ~1.71 eV followed by a near band edge luminescence peak at ~1.55 eV.
• Raman peaks at ~151 cm−1 followed by two peaks at ~71 cm−1 and ~116 cm−1.

Aluminum antimonide films (AlSb) were successfully deposited on glass substrates by ablating an aluminum antimonide target using pulsed Nd-YAG laser. Films deposited at substrate temperatures ~773 K and above showed zinc blende structure. Increase in substrate temperature culminated in grain growth in the films. Photoluminescence studies indicated a strong peak ~725 nm (~1.71 eV) and ~803 nm (~1.55 eV). Films deposited at higher deposition temperatures indicated lower residual strain. Characteristic Raman peaks for AlSb at ~151 cm−1 followed by two peaks located at ~71 cm−1 and ~116 cm−1 were also observed.