Influence of deposition temperature on the properties of spray pyrolysed CdO thin films for TCO application

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 .Physics Department, Faculty of Women for Arts, Science and Education Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

2 Physics Department, Faculty of Women for Arts, Science and Education Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

3 Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt

4 Solid State Physics Department, National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Transparent and conducting cadmium oxide (CdO)thin films were deposited onto soda-lime glass substrate by simple chemical spray pyrolysis technique at different deposition temperatures. The influence of the deposition temperature on structural, morphological, electrical and optical properties of CdO films was investigated. X-ray diffraction patterns revealed that polycrystalline CdO phase with cubic crystal structure started to form at deposition temperature of 300 °C with secondary phase, while at lower deposition temperature the prepared layers showed amorphous structure. At deposition temperature higher than 300 °C, the prepared layers showed single CdO phase enhanced crystallinity. Enhanced grain growth of CdO films is observed with increasing the deposition temperature. Moreover, the electrical conductivity of the films was found to be increasing with increasing the deposition temperature, which is consistent with the enhanced grain growth. Additionally, the optical transmittance measurement of the CdO films showed around 90% transmission in the visible and near infrared regions, independently of deposition temperature.
 

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