Abstract
Tin-doped nanocrystalline CdSe thin films were deposited onto glass substrate by simple chemical bath deposition technique. The films obtained were uniform and had good adherence to the substrate. The influence of Sn (0–5%) doping on the optical, photoluminescence, electrical, morphological, compositional and structural properties of the films was investigated. The optical absorption studies revealed that the optical band gap of the films varied from 2.62 eV for nano CdSe to 2.50 eV for 5% Sn:CdSe. These films are appropriate for application in different optoelectronics devices due to band gap tunability property. To analyze photoluminescence properties, the films were excited by UV (235 nm) and almost green spectrum was emitted by the films. It is observed that the low temperature resistivity of the thin films was in the range 107–104 Ω cm and also found to decrease with Sn concentration, as resulted from the dc two probe measurements. Activation energy was also calculated. Noticeable changes were observed in the optical and electrical properties of CdSe thin films due to the presence of Sn dopant. Surface morphology study using TEM/SEM showed almost uniform distribution of spherical grains. The elemental composition study using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDAX) confirms the existence of the desired elements. X-ray diffraction pattern indicated that the formed structure is cubic with most prominent peak at (111). Some important structural parameters such as lattice constant, crystallite size, strain, dislocation density and number of crystallites per unit area were calculated and presented.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
M. Califano, A. Zunger, A. Franceschetti, Direct carrier multiplication due to inverse Auger scattering in CdSe quantum dots. Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 2409–2411 (2004)
H.M. Kotb, M.A. Dabban, A.Y. Abdel-latif, M.M. Hafiz, Annealing temperature dependence of the optical and structural properties of selenium-rich CdSe thin films. J. Alloys Compd. 512, 115–120 (2012)
S.A. Pawar, R.S. Devan, D.S. Patil, A.V. Moholkar, M.G. Gang, Y. Ma, J.H. Kim, P.S. Patil, Improved solar cell performance of chemosynthesized cadmium selenide pebbles. Electrochim. Acta 98, 244–254 (2013)
M.S. Sahu, A. Kang, C. Kompch, A.W. Notthoff, D. Wills, M. Deng, C.D. Winterer, D.J. Frisbie, Norris, Electronic impurity doping in CdSe nanocrystals. Nano Lett. 12, 2587–2594 (2012)
Z. Juzheng, G. Shanmin, H. Baibiao, D. Ying, W. Ju, L. Juan, Preparation of CdSe nanocrystals with special morphologies. Prog. Chem. 22, 1901–1910 (2010)
K. Sharma, A.S. Al-Kabbi, G.S.S. Saini, S.K. Tripathi, Indium doping induced modification of the structural, optical and electrical properties of nanocrystalline CdSe thin films. J. Alloys Compd. 564, 42–48 (2013)
R. Das, R. Kumar, Compositional effect on optical characteristics of solution grown (Cd1–xSnx)S thin films. J. Mater. Sci. 43, 5972–5976 (2008)
E.B. Salgado, M.T.S. Nair, P.K. Nair, Chemically deposited SnSe thin films: thermal stability and solar cell application. ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol. 3, 169–175 (2014)
T. Inoue, H. Hiramatsu, H. Hosono, T. Kamiya, Heteroepitaxial growth of SnSe films by pulsed laser deposition using Se-rich targets. J. Appl. Phys. 118, 205302 (2015)
V.R.M. Reddy, G. Lindwall, B. Pejjai, S. Gedia, T.R.R. Kotte, M. Sugiyamad, Z. Liu, C. Park, α-SnSe thin film solar cells produced by selenization of magnetron sputtered tin precursors. Sol. Energy Mater Sol. Cells 176, 251–258 (2018)
B. Pejjai, V.R.M. Reddy, S. Gedi, C. Park, Status review on earth-abundant and environmentally green Sn-X (X = Se, S) nanoparticle synthesis by solution methods for photovoltaic applications. Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 42, 2790–2831 (2017)
K.S. Urmila, T.A. Namitha, J. Rajani, R.R. Philip, B. Pradeep, Optoelectronic properties and Seebeck coefficient in SnSe thin films. J. Semicond. 37, 093002 (2016)
K. Assili, O. Gonzalez, K. Alouani, X. Vilanova, Structural, morphological, optical and sensing properties of SnSe and SnSe thin films as a gas sensing material, Arab. J Chem. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2017.10.004
J. Kaur, S.K. Tripathi, Annealing-induced optical and sub-band-gap absorption parameters of Sn-doped CdSe thin films. Philos. Mag. 96, 45–57 (2016)
J. Kaur, M. Rani, S.K. Tripathi, Study of sub band gap absorption of Sn doped CdSe thin films. AIP Conf. Proc. 1591, 249–250 (2014)
J. Kaur, S.J. Abbas, S.K. Tripathi, Effect of Sn doping on structural and electrical properties of thermally evaporated CdSe thin films. Mater. Focus 3, 112–118 (2014)
V. Dhanasekaran, J. Jung, K.K. Lee, T. Mahalingam, Comparison studies on electrodeposited CdSe, SnSe and CdxSn1–xSe thin films. Ionics 21, 1187–1192 (2015)
J. Datta, C. Bhattacharya, S. Bandyopadhyay, Synthesis and characterization of electro-crystallized Cd–Sn–Se semiconductor films for application in non-aqueous photoelectrochemical solar cells. Appl. Surf. Sci. 252, 7493–7502 (2006)
V. Dhanasekaran, T. Mahalingam, R. Chandramohan, J.P. Chu, J. Rhee, Electrochemical synthesis and characterization of CdSnSe thin films. J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron. 23, 645–651 (2012)
R. Das, P.K. Sahu, Synthesis, microstructure study and optical characterization of chemical bath deposited nanocrystalline CdSe thin films. J. Optoelectron Adv. Mater. 12, 1406–1413 (2010)
R. Kumar, R. Das, M. Gupta, V. Ganesan, Preparation of nanocrystalline Sb doped PbS thin films and their structural, optical, and electrical characterization. Superlattices Microstruct. 75, 601–612 (2014)
K.N. Manjunatha, S. Paul, Investigation of optical properties of nickel oxide thin films deposited on different substrates. Appl. Surf. Sci. 352, 10–15 (2015)
M. Ali, W.A.A. Syed, M. Zubair, N.A. Shah, A. Mehmood, Physical properties of Sb-doped CdSe thin films by thermal evaporation method. Appl. Surf. Sci. 284, 482–488 (2013)
M.M.F. Cabral, D. Coelho, S.A.S. Machado, Analyzing Cd underpotential deposition behaviour on Se thin films: atomic force microscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical quartz crystal nanobalance studies. Electrochim. Acta 91, 361–366 (2013)
S. Purohit, S.P. Chander, C. Nehra, M.S. Lal, Dhaka, Effect of thickness on structural, optical, electrical and morphological properties of nanocrystalline CdSe thin films for optoelectronic applications. Opt. Mater. 47, 345–348 (2015)
Y.M. Azhniuk, Y.I. Hutych, V.V. Lopushansky, A.E. Raevskaya, A.L. Stroyuk, S.Y. Kuchmiy, A.V. Gomonnai, D.R.T. Zahn, Interplay of factors affecting Raman scattering in cadmium chalcogenide nanocrystals in dielectric media. J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 79, 012017 (2007)
R.S. Singh, S. Bhushan, A.K. Singh, S.R. Deo, Characterization and optical properties of CdSe nano-crystalline thin films. Dig. J. Nanomater. Biostruct. 6, 403–412 (2011)
F. Laatar, A. Harizi, A. Smida, M. Hassen, H. Ezzaouia, Effect of deposition temperature on the structural and optical properties of CdSe QDs thin films deposited by CBD method. Mater. Res. Bull. 78, 83–95 (2016)
T. Mahalingam, V. Dhanasekaran, R. Chandramohan., J. Rhee, Microstructural properties of electrochemically synthesized ZnSe thin films. J. Mater. Sci. 47, 1950–1957 (2012)
T.S. Shyju, S. Anandhi, R. Indirajith, R. Gopalakrishnan, Effects of annealing on cadmium selenide nanocrystalline thin films prepared by chemical bath deposition. J. Alloys Compd. 506, 892–897 (2010)
M.N. Borah, S. Chaliha, P.C. Sarmah, A. Rahman, Electrical properties of thermally evaporated undoped and doped CdSe. Ind. J. Pure Appl. Phys. 45, 687–691 (2007)
D. Takanoglu, K. Yilmaz, Y. Ozcan, O. Karabulut, Structural, electrical and optical properties of thermally evaporated CdSe and In-doped CdSe thin films. Chalcogenide Lett. 12, 35–42 (2015)
H.M. Ali, H.A.A. El-Ghanny, Investigation of the structural, optical and electrical transport properties of n-doped CdSe thin films. J. Phys. 20, 155205 (2008)
S. Khomane, Structural and optical characterizations of chemically deposited cadmium selenide thin films. Mater. Res. Bull. 46, 1600–1603 (2011)
S. Purohit, S.P. Chander, M.S. Nehra, Dhaka, Effect of air annealing on structural, optical, morphological and electrical properties of thermally evaporated CdSe thin films. Physica E 69, 342–348 (2015)
Y. Zhao, Z. Yan, J. Liu, A. Wei, Synthesis and characterization of CdSe nanocrystalline thin films deposited by chemical bath deposition. Mater. Sci. Semicond. Process. 16, 1592–1598 (2013)
A.V. Shaikh, R.S. Mane, O.S. Joo, B.N. Pawar, J.K. Lee, S.H. Han, Baking impact on photoelectrochemical cells performance of electrodeposited CdSe films. J. Phys. Chem. Solids 72, 1122–1127 (2011)
S.A. Gawali, C.H. Bhosle, Structural and optical properties of nanocrystalline CdSe and Al:CdSe thin films for photoelectrochemical application. Mater. Chem. Phys. 129, 751–755 (2011)
Acknowledgements
Authors are thankful to the management of Bhilai Institute of Technology, Durg, India for financial support and lab facilities. Authors are thankful to Dr. Mukul Gupta of UGC-CSR, Indore, India for providing XRD studies. Authors wish to acknowledge Dr. D. M. Phase and Mr. Ahire for assisting in SEM and EDAX analysis and Dr. V. Sathe for Raman measurement at UGC-CSR, Indore, India. Authors are also grateful to STIC Cochin, India for HRTEM measurement.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sahu, P.K., Das, R. & Lalwani, R. Incorporation of tin in nanocrystalline CdSe thin films: a detailed study of optoelectronic and microstructural properties. Appl. Phys. A 124, 665 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-018-2094-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-018-2094-3