Composition, structure and morphology of dip-coated rapid thermal annealed CdS and non-aqueous electrodeposited CdTe

Abstract

The composition, structure and morphology of CdTe and CdS films and CdS/CdTe heterojunction devices have been studied using XPS, XRD and SEM. Chemical bath deposition and electrodeposition in non-aqueous media were used for growing CdS and CdTe respectively. It has been shown that the rapid thermal annealing of CdS yields oriented, stoichiometric, low-resistivity films. The evidence obtained from XPS has been used to demonstrate that the oxygen incorporated within CdS can be completely leached out in a short time using rapid thermal annealing. The changes brought out in the CdTe films as a result of junction processing have also been analysed. It has been shown that the non-aqueous electrodeposition of CdTe over rapid thermal annealed CdS can be a potentially useful route for growing CdS/CdTe heterojunctions.