%0 Journal Article
%T Influence of Nanostructuration on the Vibrational, Electronic and Optical Properties of CrSi<sub>2</sub> Thin Films
%+ Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier - Institut de Chimie Moléculaire et des Matériaux de Montpellier (ICGM)
%+ Laboratoire Charles Coulomb (L2C)
%+ Institut Jean Lamour (IJL)
%+ Centrale de Technologie en Micro et Nanoélectronique CTM-­LMCP
%A Moll, Adrien
%A Hermet, Patrick
%A Bantignies, Jean-Louis
%A Candolfi, Christophe
%A Lenoir, Bertrand
%A Maurin, David
%A Ramonda, Michel
%A Oliviero, Erwan
%A Fréty, Nicole
%< avec comité de lecture
%@ 1932-7447
%J Journal of Physical Chemistry C
%I American Chemical Society
%V 124
%N 51
%P 28267-28276
%8 2020-12-24
%D 2020
%R 10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c08740
%K chromium silicide
%K thin film
%K nanostructuration
%K amorphous semiconductor
%K electron scattering
%K vibrational properties
%K optical properties
%Z Chemical Sciences/Theoretical and/or physical chemistryJournal articles
%X We report a detailed experimental investigation of the influence of the formation of nano-crystallites on the vibrational, electronic and optical properties of CrSi<sub>2</sub> thin films. Both amorphous and nanostructured thin films were investigated by means of electrical resistivity, Hall effect measurements as well as Raman and infrared spectroscopies. We show that both types of films exhibit a semiconducting-like behavior, with the notable difference that the high defect concentrations in amorphous films act as hole donors, modifying the electronic band structure and optical constants. The effect of the film thickness on electrical properties is well captured by the Fuchs-Sondheimer model indicating a decrease in the charge carrier mean free path, likely due to the formation of amorphous/nano-crystallite interfaces that contribute to strongly scatter the charge carriers. Raman spectroscopy performed on nano-crystallized thin films evidences the presence of a Raman-active mode at 229 cm<sup>-1</sup> and confirms DFT calculations predicting a mode at 248 cm<sup>-1</sup>, the observation of which had remained elusive so far in polycrystalline CrSi<sub>2</sub>. Measurements of the refractive index and dielectric constants of amorphous thin films show a very high refractive index in the mid-IR range. Our results illustrate how the controlled growth of nano-crystallites can be used to tailor the electronic, vibrational and optical properties of amorphous thin films.
%G English
%2 https://hal.science/hal-03373384/document
%2 https://hal.science/hal-03373384/file/Revised%20Manuscript.pdf
%L hal-03373384
%U https://hal.science/hal-03373384
%~ CNRS
%~ ENSC-MONTPELLIER
%~ ICG
%~ L2C
%~ UNIV-LORRAINE
%~ INC-CNRS
%~ IJL-UL
%~ MIPS
%~ CHIMIE
%~ UNIV-MONTPELLIER
%~ TEST-HALCNRS
%~ UM-2015-2021
%~ TEST2-HALCNRS
%~ IJL-204
%~ RENATECH