Intense Quantum Confinement Effects in Cu2O Thin Films

Thin Cu2O films in the thickness range 0.75-230 nm have been prepared on high-quality corning glass, quartz, and Si(100) substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering of Cu targets and subsequent oxidation in a furnace under air. Ultraviolet-visible light absorption spectroscopy experiments reveal a blue shift of the energy between the top valence and the first excited conduction sub-bands. The shift increases smoothly as the film thickness decreases. The maximum value observed for the thinnest film is very large, reaching a value of 1.2 eV. Such a shift was not easy to be observed in the past due to the very small Bohr radius of Cu2O. The experimental results, which indicate the presence of intense quantum confinement effects, are well-described by theoretical calculations based on the potential morphing method in the Hartree-Fock approximation.