Some studies on zinc phosphide films grown by hot wall epitaxy

Zinc phosphide (Zn3P2) films are grown by the hot wall epitaxy (HWE) technique on mica substrates in the temperature range 170 to 240 °C. The surface morphology of the epitaxial films indicates that the grain size increases with the increase of substrate temperature, corresponding to an activation energy of 0.32 eV. An analysis of the optical absorption spectrum of the films indicates two direct transitions at 1.34 and 1.45 eV. The electrical conductivity is found to vary from 2 × 10−5 (ω cm)−1 to 4 × 10−5 (ω cm)−1 in the temperature range 163 to 300 K. Minority carrier lifetime, τ = 1.23 ms is measured using the the photoconductivity technique. Copyright © 1988 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA