Size effects in thin PbSe films

Abstract

The objects of the study are thin PbSe films with thicknesses d in the range of d = 5.5 – 410 nm, grown by thermal evaporation in vacuum of stoichiometric p-PbSe crystals on KCl substrates and covered with a EuSe layer. The room-temperature d-dependences of the Seebeck coefficient, Hall coefficient, electrical conductivity, charge carrier mobility, thermoelectric power factor are obtained. When d increases to ~ 20 nm, an inversion of the conductivity sign from p to n is observed. In the d-dependences of the transport properties one can isolate a monotonic and oscillatory components, whose presence is attributed to the manifestation of classical and quantum size effects, respectively. The oscillation periods Δd for electronic and hole gases are determined. Theoretically calculated Δd, assuming a size quantization of the electronic and hole spectra, and our estimate of the monotonic component of the electrical conductivity, using the Fuchs-Sondheimer theory, are in good agreement with the experimental data.