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Elimination of Secondary Oxide Phases in CdTe Nanostructured Thin Films Prepared by Conventional Spray Pyrolysis, and the Influence of Thermal Annealing

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Abstract

In this study, cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin films were prepared by conventional spray pyrolysis on glass substrates at different temperatures (250°C, 300°C, and 350°C). Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images demonstrated that the substrate temperature significantly affected the morphology and thickness of the grown layers. The Seebeck effect measurements showed that all the studied layers had p-type conductivity. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy results indicated that the layer grown at 350°C had better CdTe crystalline quality, although it still contained secondary oxide phase components (TeO2, TeO3, and CdTeO3), consistent with the analysis of electrical resistance versus temperature data. To eliminate oxide phase components in this sample, we used the annealing process in the presence of N2 gas flux for 1 h at two different temperatures, 400°C and 450°C. It was found that annealing at 400°C, the optimum annealing temperature, achieved the goal of eliminating secondary oxide phase components.

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  1. Faculty of Physics, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran

    Hosein Robatjazi & Hosein Eshghi

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  1. Hosein Robatjazi
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Robatjazi, H., Eshghi, H. Elimination of Secondary Oxide Phases in CdTe Nanostructured Thin Films Prepared by Conventional Spray Pyrolysis, and the Influence of Thermal Annealing. J. Electron. Mater. 52, 5922–5930 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-023-10506-7

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