Effect of silver incorporation in phase formation and band gap tuning of tungsten oxide thin films

Silver incorporated tungsten oxide thin films are prepared by RF magnetron sputtering technique. The effect of silver incorporation in micro structure evolution, phase enhancement, band gap tuning and other optical properties are investigated using techniques such as x-ray diffraction, micro-Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and UV-Visible spectroscopy. Effect of silver addition in phase formation and band gap tuning of tungsten oxide thin films are investigated. It is found that the texturing and phase formation improves with enhancement in silver content. It is also found that as the silver incorporation enhances the thickness of the films increases at the same time the strain in the film decreases. Even without annealing the desired phase can be achieved by doping with silver. A broad band centered at the wavelength 437 nm is observed in the absorption spectra of tungsten oxide films of higher silver incorporation and this can be attributed to surface plasmon resonance of silver atoms present in the tungsten oxide matrix. The transmittance of the films is decreased with increase in silver content which can be due to increase in film thickness, enhancement of scattering, and absorption of light caused by the increase of grain size, surface roughness and porosity of films and enhanced absorption due to surface plasmon resonance of silver. It is found that silver can act as the seed for the growth of tungsten oxide grains and found that the grain size increases with silver content which in turn decreases the band gap of tungsten oxide from 3.14 eV to 2.70 eV. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4768206]