Synthesis and physical properties of (CdO)1-x(ZnO)x thin films obtained by electron beam evaporation for solar cell application

Abstract

The electron beam evaporation (EBE) method was used to deposit (CdO)_1-x(ZnO)_x films on glass substrates. X-ray diffraction methods revealed the films to have a polycrystalline structure for CdO. The intensity of the peaks decreased and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) increased with growth in the ZnO content. Thus, the peaks shifted to the right. Also, the results showed that for the pure ZnO, the phase transition to the disordered region occurred. FE-SEM and AFM analysis were utilized for the determination of the reduction in particle size as the concentration of ZnO was increased. With increased ZnO concentrations, the optical energy gap increased, accompanied by increases in both the average refractive index and extinction coefficient. Electrical resistivity reduced from 1622 Ωcm at x = 0 to 86 Ωcm at x = 0.5 and then increased to 2188 Ωcm at x = 1. These thin films have a lot of different physical properties. This data points out their possible utilization in some optoelectronic devices, which specifically involves the inevitable interconnectivity of charge carriers and light absorption, which is a very convincing reason for solid/compound for the solar cell and photodetector applications.