Structural, optical and electrical properties of screen printed Cd_0.4Zn_0.6Te films

¹ Department of Physics, Krishna Institute of Engineering & Technology, Ghaziabad, India
² Department of Physics, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India

Corresponding author: vipinkumar28@yahoo.co.in

Received: 26 November 2009
Accepted: 11 February 2010
Published online: 31 March 2010

Abstract

Cd_1-XZn_XTe is one of the II-VI ternary semiconductor materials whose band gap can be tailored to any value between 1.48 eV to 2.26 eV as X varies from 0 to 1. It is promising material for high efficiency solar cells, switching and other optoelectronic devices. Cd_0.4Zn_0.6Te thin films have been deposited on ultra-clean glass substrates by screen printing method followed by sintering process. X-ray diffraction studies revealed that the films are polycrystalline in nature, single phase exhibiting wurtzite (hexagonal) structure with strong preferential orientation of grains along the (101) direction. The optical band gap of the films has been studied using absorption spectra by using double beam spectrophotometer. The dc conductivity of the films was measured in vacuum by two probe technique. The results of present investigation will be useful in characterizing the material Cd_1-XZn_XTe for its applications in photovoltaics. Sintering is a very simple and viable method compared to other cost intensive methods.