Optical absorption and photoconductivity studies on Zn<inf>3</inf>P<inf>2</inf> thin films grown by hot wall deposition

Thin polycrystalline films of Zn3P2 have been grown on mica and glass substrates using the hot wall deposition technique. Optical and DC photoconducting properties of these films were studied. The minority carrier lifetime (τ) was determined by photoconductive decay and AC photoconductivity methods, τ was found to be in the range of 1.20 to 1.25 ms. This high value of τ is probably due to surface trap states. An indirect band gap of 1.375 eV was obtained from the analysis of optical absorption spectra. © 1988.