Optical and structural properties of GaSb-doped Mn based diluted magnetic semiconductor thin films grown via DC magnetron sputtering

In this work, diluted magnetic semiconductor GaSb:Mn thin films were grown via DC magnetron Co-sputtering on glass substrates. The effect of synthesis parameters on the optical and structural properties was determined through spectral transmittance measurements and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. Substrate temperature was changed from 373 to 523 K and layer thicknesses were obtained between 200 and 330 nm. All samples were subjected to annealing process to 623 K in situ. It was found that the optical constants (refractive index (n), absorption coefficient (a), extinction coefficient (k), and energy gap (E1)) are significantly affected by the temperature and target power used during the synthesis process. In particular, a variation of the energy gap between 0.58 and 0.98 eV was obtained when the target power of GaSb varied between 80 and 140 W. GaSb, Mn2Sb and SiO2 phases were observed for lowest values of target power, where SiO2 phase is a contribution of the substrate. The die