Structural characterization and optical properties of pulsed laser deposition of Se 75 Te 25 and Se 75 Te 17 Ge 8 amorphous thin films S.M. Salim a , A. Lahmar b,n , H. Zayied c , A.M. Salem a,d , G.B. Sakr e , N. Teleb a,b , M. El Marssi b a Electron Microscope and Thin Films Department, National Research Center, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt b Laboratoire de Physique de La Matiére Condensée, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France c Physics Department, College of Girls for Arts, Science and Education, University of Ain Shams, Cairo, Egypt d Physics Department, unit research center, University College-Umm Al-Qura University, Saudi Arabia e Physics Department, Faculty of Education, University of Ain Shams, Cairo, Egypt article info Keywords: Growth from melt Pulse laser deposition Alloys Semiconducting materials Optical proprieties abstract Thin films of Se 75 Te 25 and Se 75 Te 17 Ge 8 were deposited onto glass substrates using a pulsed laser deposition technique. The target materials used for the films deposition were prepared by conventional solid state reaction in a vacuum sealed silica tube to avoid oxide formation. Chemical composition and structural characterization were investigated using energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The optical constants were determined from the spectrophotometric measurements of the transmit- tance and reflectance spectra carried out on the prepared films. The refractive index behavior is adequately described by the single oscillator model proposed by Wemple and DiDomenico whereby the oscillator parameters values were determined. The optical absorption coefficient was analyzed to identify the type of the optical transition and for determination of the corresponding energy values. & 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Thin film materials based on chalcogenide glasses have been recognized of their potential applications in different fields that encompass optical memory, fiber optics, and device for data storage as well as non volatile electronic storage [1–5]. It should be notice however, that such materi- als endorse an amorphous–crystalline phase transition with electrical switching property which constitute an advanta- geous features suitable for various industrial applications [1]. Easily, these glasses materials could be obtained from the melt by quenching technique, and over a wide compositional range, that make them best suited not only for the practical applications, but also to scale up as suitable model for systematic studies of various physical properties. Among this chalcogenide family, Se–Te based alloy already recognized as capable of endorsing properties with potential applications like optical recording media due to their good laser writer sensitivity [6]. Many investigations have been carried out on Se–Te system with the aim of improving its properties and versatility. Therefore, to enlarge the domain of its application, it was found necessary to increase the softening temperature and mechanical strength of Se–Te system by adding a third element. It is worth mentioning that the past decades have seen a spate of research efforts and numerous doping element were tried [7–12], but often it is rather difficult to choose appropriate elements that could positively influence Se–Te system. Elemental Ge is considered to be effective in Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mssp Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mssp.2015.05.002 1369-8001/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. n Corresponding author. E-mail address: abdel.ilah.lahmar@u-picardie.fr (A. Lahmar). Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing 39 (2015) 172–177