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Title: Properties of RF sputtered cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin films: Influence of deposition pressure

Journal Article · · AIP Conference Proceedings
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4945208· OSTI ID:22591096

Influence of deposition pressure on structural, morphology, electrical and optical properties of CdTe thin films deposited at low substrate temperature (100°C) by RF magnetron sputtering was investigated. The formation of CdTe was confirmed by low angle XRD and Raman spectroscopy. The low angle XRD analysis revealed that the CdTe films have zinc blende (cubic) structure with crystallites having preferred orientation in (111) direction. Raman spectra show the longitudinal optical (LO) phonon mode peak ∼ 165.4 cm{sup -1} suggesting high quality CdTe film were obtained over the entire range of deposition pressure studied. Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that films are smooth, homogenous, and crack-free with no evidence of voids. The EDAX data revealed that CdTe films deposited at low deposition pressure are high-quality stoichiometric. However, for all deposition pressures, films are rich in Cd relative to Te. The UV-Visible spectroscopy analysis show the blue shift in absorption edge with increasing the deposition pressure while the band gap show decreasing trend. The highest electrical conductivity was obtained for the film deposited at deposition pressure 1 Pa which indicates that the optimized deposition pressure for our sputtering unit is 1 Pa. Based on the experimental results, these CdTe films can be useful for the application in the flexible solar cells and other opto-electronic devices.

OSTI ID:
22591096
Journal Information:
AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1724, Issue 1; Conference: ETMN-2015: 2. international conference on emerging technologies: Micro to nano 2015, Rajasthan (India), 24-25 Oct 2015; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English