Optical and Electrical Properties of α-MnTe Thin Films Deposited Using RF Magnetron Sputtering

Abstract

The optical and electrical properties of MnTe films were investigated to ascertain the feasibility of their use in solar cell applications. Three α-MnTe thin films with different composition, i.e., Mn-47.9 at% Te, Mn-49.2 at% Te, and Mn-50.4 at% Te, were prepared using RF magnetron sputtering. All the films demonstrated a high light absorption coefficient (0.2 × 10⁵–0.8 × 10⁶ cm⁻¹) and an optimal indirect band gap (1.37–1.52 eV) for solar cell applications. Furthermore, all of them exhibited p-type conductivity, with the Mn-47.9 at% Te film demonstrating three to four times higher carrier mobility (5.2 cm²·V⁻¹·s⁻¹) than the Mn-50.4 at% Te film (1.6 cm²·V⁻¹·s⁻¹).