Crystallographic, optical and electrical properties of low zinc content cadmium zinc sulphide composite thin films for photovoltaic applications

In this paper a screen-printing method has been employed for the deposition of low zinc content cadmium zinc sulphide (Cd_0.9Zn_0.1S) composite thin films on ultra clean glass substrate. Cadmium sulphide, zinc sulphide and cadmium chloride have been used as the basic source material. With these basic source materials, the optimum conditions for preparing good quality screen-printed films have been found. 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 (1 0 1) direction. SEM/EDAX analysis confirms the formation of ternary compound. The optical band gap (E_g) of the films has been studied by using reflection spectra in wavelength range 350-600 nm. The DC conductivity of the films has been measured in vacuum by a two probe technique.