Enhancement of Nonlinear Optical and Dielectric Properties of Cu₂O Films Sandwiched with Indium Slabs

Abstract

In this work, the effects of the insertion of indium slabs of thickness 100 nm on the performance of stacked layers of Cu2O are reported. Cu2O/In/Cu2O thin films coated onto ultrasonically cleaned glass substrates are structurally, morphologically, optically, and dielectrically studied. The glassy films of Cu2O display larger, well‐ordered grains in an amorphous sea of Cu2O upon insertion of indium slabs between layers of Cu2O. Optically, the indium slabs increase the light absorbability in the IR region by 12.5 times, narrow the energy bandgap, and widen the energy band tails region. They also enhance the nonlinearity in the dielectric response and increase the dielectric constant values by 2.5 times. In addition, the optical conductivity parameters are obtained from the fittings of the dielectric spectra. The analyses reveal an enhancement in the drift mobility, plasmon frequency, and free carrier density via stacking of the indium layer between layers of Cu2O. The drift mobility and plasmon frequency values reach 232.4 cm2 V−1 s−1 and 3.95 GHz at a reduced hole‐plasmon frequency value of 6.0 × 1014 Hz (2.48 eV). The values are promising as they indicate the applicability of Cu2O/In/Cu2O interfaces in optoelectronics as thin film transistors and electromagnetic wave cavities.