Optical and structural studies on spray deposited α-PbO thin films

Thin films of tetragonal lead monoxide have been prepared from spray pyrolytic decomposition of an aqueous solution of lead nitrate. The spray pyrolysis set-up developed for this study is also described briefly. From the structural investigations it has been found that the films generally grow with some admixture of monoclinic PbO 1.57 phase. The absorption coefficients of the films have been determined from transmittance measurements in the 400-1200 nm region. From an analysis of the room temperature optical absorption data, a direct transition band gap of 1.9 eV has been obtained for α-PbO.