Physical properties of Bi‐doped CdTe thin films deposited by cosputtering

Abstract The structural, morphological, electrical, and optical properties of CdTe–Bi cosputtered thin films related with composition are presented. The films were grown on Corning glass substrates at room temperature from a CdTe–Bi target. The composition measurements show that the Bi content in the films ranges from x = 0.0 to x = 6.37 at%, depending on the area fraction covered by the Bi piece attached to the CdTe target. The structure of the annealed films was determined from X‐ray diffraction measurements. Two kinds of structures were observed, depending on the Bi content: (1) CdTe polycrystalline films containing a small amount of Bi that is probably incorporated in the Cd and Te sites of the CdTe lattice. (2) Amorphization of the polycrystalline films, with higher Bi content. From the experimental results, we concluded that using this deposition method n/p‐type Bi‐doped CdTe polycrystalline films can be produced with electrical resistivity between 10²–10³ Ω cm and electron mobility between 10¹ and 10² cm² V^–1 s^–1. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)