AC measurements of spray-deposited CdS:In thin films

Abstract

Indium doped cadmium sulfide thin films (CdS:In) were produced by the spray pyrolysis technique on glass substrates. AC measurements were used to investigate the electrical properties of the films depending on Brick-layer model for polycrystalline materials. The measurements were performed at room temperature in the dark and room light in the frequency range from 20 Hz to 1 MHz using coplanar indium electrodes. The data were analyzed by using Bode plots for the impedance Z and dielectric loss tanδ with frequency f. It is found that the impedance has no dependence on frequency in the low frequency region but has 1/f dependence in the high frequency region. One dielectric loss peak is obtained, which means the presence of a single relaxation time, and hence the films are modeled by just one RC circuit which represents the grains. This means that there is just one conduction mechanism that is responsible for the conduction in the bulk, due to electronic transport through the grains. Real values of the impedance in the low frequency region and relaxation times for treated and as-deposited films were estimated.