Effect of particle size on optical and electrical properties of thin films – a simulation approach

Abstract

This work presents a simulated investigation of the relationship between surface roughness and particle size as well as the resulting impact on the thin film's physical, optical, and electrical properties. Non-porous thin films are created through computer simulation for a range of particle sizes. Random deposition with a surface relaxation technique is used for the generation of non-porous thin films. The fundamental data of two well-known materials, ZnO and CdSe, were used for the theoretical calculation of different parameters like bandgap, absorption coefficient, refractive index, dielectric constant conductivity, or others. It is also shown that the pre-assumed values of all these parameters are well matched with the experimental results reported by different groups. This is probably the first effort to develop a direct relation between the particle size with different fundamental optical or electrical properties of different materials. This would definitely help the experimental researchers in the field of material science to design their experiments as per the desired requirements.