OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF N-DOPED Cu2O THIN FILMS DEPOSITED BY RF-MAGNETRON SPUTTERING Cu2O TARGET

N-doped Cu2O films were deposited on quartz substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering a Cu2O target. The optical constants and thicknesses of the films with different nitrogen partial pressure (NPP) were retrieved from transmittance data by an optical model which combines the Forouhi–Bloomer model with modified Drude model. The results show that when NPP increases from 0.0 to 0.033 Pa, the optical gap decreases from 2.14 to 1.95 eV. Additionally, an optical absorption process in the infrared region below the optical band gap was observed for N-doped Cu2O films, which was not found in the pure Cu2O film. This is because an intermediate band (IB) in the band gap results from nitrogen doping. It is believed that N-doped Cu2O film with suitable NPP could be used to enhance the energy conversion efficiency for photovoltaic cells.