Growth mechanism of CdS film prepared by chemical bath deposition

In this paper, sodium citrate was adopted as a complexing agent and ammonia merely served as pH adjustor to investigate the growth mechanism of CdS film The growth rate, structural properties, surface morphology microstructure, and optical properties of CdS films were studied by profilometer, X-ray diffractometer(XRD)scanning electron microscopy(SEM), transmission elec tron microscopy(TEM), and spectrophotometer, respec tively. The SEM images show that CdS films prepared with higher ammonia concentration have lower nucleation density on substrate. SEM and EDS results show that the formation of Cd(OH)2is not required in the growth of CdS film. As the ammonia concentration increases, the sites tha previously adsorbed S2-are taken by OH-which leads to lower S2-density on substrate. CdS film forms through direct reaction of Cd2?with the S2-which are adsorbed on the substrate. Lower S2-density on the substrate results in the decrease of particle density on the substrate. The as deposited CdS films have relatively high-average trans mittance(*80 %) in the wavelength range from 500 to1,000 nm which makes them suitable to be used in sola cell.