Effect of growth parameters on the morphology and resistivity of PbSe

A series of lead selenide (PbSe) films were produced by the physical vapor transport (PVT) method. It was observed that substrate temperature and source purity have a pronounced effect on the morphology, resistivity, and crystallinity. As the substrate temperature increased, the crystal orientation changed from (1 1 1) to the (0 0 1) orientation. High-quality films, with a full-width at half-maxima as low as 0.3°, were grown. Further, the electrical resistivity could be changed by annealing the samples in air or by film impurity content. Annealing in an oxygen atmosphere produced three orders of magnitude higher resistivity compared to pure PbSe material. The virgin material showed 60.7 kΩ cm and annealed sample showed a resistivity value of 5.0 MΩ cm.