Boron-doped WO3 thin films prepared by thermionic vacuum arc technique: The structural, surface, and optical properties; [Termiyonik vakum ark tekniği kullanılarak hazırlanan bor katkılı WO3 ince filmler: fiziksel özellikler]

Improvement in the physical properties of WO3 thin films is of great interest among researchers. In this work, boron as a dopant was selected to enhance the physical characteristics of the WO3 thin films on glass and silicon wafer substrates. To achieve this aim, a plasma-based, well-known thermionic vacuum arc (TVA) technique was utilized to prepare the films with varying boron percent, followed by structural, optical, and microscopic characterization. The roughness of the films directly depends on the boron amount and nature of the substrate. The structural measurement proved the formation of WO3 phases on both substrates. An increase in the dopant amount caused a shift in the dominant peak in the X-ray diffraction patterns. The crystallite sizes of the films varied in the range of 14-49 nm. According to the optical results, the optical band gaps (Eg) of the WO3:B (1%) and WO3:B (3%) films were obtained as 3.23 and 3.25 eV, respectively. The increase in the boron amount led to an increase in the packing density of the films. This behavior was not related to substrate properties. These results suggest a direct relationship between crystallite size and lower optical loss function.