Influence of gamma rays on the electrical properties of CuPbI3 perovskite thin films

The CuPbI3 perovskite thin films were studied in this research as a function of gamma ray doses. In more details, the effect of gamma radiation on the electrical transportation and structural properties of CuPbI3/p-Si heterostructure is studied to investigate the radiation detection and dosimetric ability of this perovskite material. The material was successfully deposited on silicon substrate by spin coating technique. The deposition was carried out at room temperature under ambient conditions. The deposited films on a silicon substrate were then annealed at 200 °C. Then, all samples were irradiated by high gamma radiation using 60Co source in the range of 0–100 kGy at room temperature. For low gamma rays dose test, the pristine sample was exposed to a low activity 137Cs source for different time duration in order to vary the range of gamma rays doses. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) results of pristine and irradiated thin films confirmed the right structure of CuPbI3 and to evaluate the impact of the incident gamma rays. Current-voltage (I–V) characterization was performed at different low gamma ray doses to assess whether the impact of gamma rays is temporary or permanent. There was an increase in the value of the forward current with increasing gamma dose. The ideality factor of the samples is greater than unity, whereas barrier height and saturation current for the samples changed with radiation because of density of defect induced by gamma and charge carrier trapping on interface layer. The results clearly showed a significant impact of gamma irradiation dose on the structure and electrical properties of CuPbI3 perovskite thin films, which may open a new channel to study the effect of irradiation on this material using different substrates.