Optical constants of evaporated amorphous zinc arsenide (Zn3As2) via spectroscopic ellipsometry

We have used spectroscopic ellipsometry to measure the optical constants of evaporated amorphous zinc arsenide (Zn3As2). A five parameter model using a Tauc-Lorentz oscillator was found to fit well each of six amorphous samples deposited on Si3N4/silicon, allowing the layer thicknesses and optical constants to be deduced. Layer thicknesses varied from 20 to 70 nm. The fitted value of the optical gap (Tauc gap) is 0.95 eV, close to the 1.0 eV band gap for crystalline bulk zinc arsenide. A single set of parameters from an ensemble Tauc-Lorentz model can be used to determine the thicknesses of amorphous Zn3As2 layers as long as the layers are greater than or similar to 25 nm thick. Measured film thicknesses do not correlate with targeted thicknesses, likely due to low sticking coefficients of evaporated zinc arsenide. (C) 2019 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement