Optical Characterization of Semiconducting Thin Films Using UV-VIS-NIR Spectroscopy: A Review

The review article focuses on the growth of thin film and its characterization by UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy. For UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy of thin films, they are usually deposited on translucent quartz glass surfaces. The article reports the extraction of various thin film optical parameters viz., absorption coefficient (α), Urbach energy (E u ), optical band gap (E g ), refractive index (n), extinction coefficient (k), dielectric constants, dissipation factor (tanδ) and optical conductivity (σ optical ) by using optical spectra (absorption(A)/transmittance (T)/reflectance (R)). Furthermore, the effect of thin film substrate temperature (T s ) and/or thickness (d) and/or post-deposition annealing temperature (T a ) on various optical parameters is discussed in detail.