Characterization of nanocrystalline cadmium telluride thin films grown by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method

Structural, electrical and optical characteristics of CdTe thin films prepared by a chemical depos i- tion method, successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR), are d escribed. For deposition of CdTe thin films, cadmium acetate was used as cationic and sodium tellurite as anionic precursor in aqueous me- dium. In this process hydrazine hydrate is used as reducing agent and NH 4OH as the catalytic for the decom- position of hydrazine. By conducting several trials optimization of the a dsorption, reaction and rinsing time duration for CdTe thin film deposition was done. In this paper the structural, optical and electrical prope rties of CdTe film are reported. The XRD pattern shows that films are nanocrystalline in nature. The resi stivity is found to be of the order of 4 · ·11 × 10 3 Ω Ω-cm at 523 K temperature with an activation energy of ~ 0·2 eV. The optical absorption studies show that films have direct band gap (1 · ·41 eV).