a Department of Physics, University of Lucknow, Lucknow-226007, U.P., India

b Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti Language

University, Lucknow- 226013, Uttar India

This study investigated the effects of substrate temperature on the structural and electrical properties of non-stoichiometric In0.35Sb0.65 thin films fabricated using thermal evaporation. Films with a constant thickness of 450 nm were deposited on glass substrates at temperatures ranging from 300 to 383 K. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed polycrystalline films with a zinc-blende structure predominantly oriented along the (220) and (311) planes. As the substrate temperature increased, the crystallite size decreased from 29 nm to 21 nm, while the line strain and dislocation density increased. Electrical characterization confirmed the p-type semiconductivity in all films. The resistivity increased from 0.282 Ω-cm to 19.3 Ω-cm with increasing substrate temperature. Notably, the hole mobility significantly improved from 730 cm2/V-s to 44,400 cm2/V-s, which is attributed to the reduced grain boundary scattering at higher deposition temperatures.

Conversely, the carrier concentration decreased from 3.04×1016 cm-3 to 7.96×1012 cm-3 as the temperature increased. These findings demonstrate the substantial influence of the substrate temperature on the structural and electrical properties of thermally evaporated InSb thin films, providing insights for optimizing their performance in various applications.