NANOCRYSTALLINE CdS THIN FILMS PREPARED BY VACUUM EVAPORATION

Nanocrystalline CdS thin films were prepared by vacuum evaporation on glass substrates at ambient temperature. The films were characterized by recording and analyzing their transmittance, X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, scanning electron microscope (SEM) images and Energy dispersive X-ray (EDAX) spectra. X-ray diffractograms revealed that the material is nanocrystalline with predominant cubic crystal structure and preferential orientation along (1 1 1) plane. SEM micrographs confirmed the nanostructure of the material and showed uniform and well covered surfaces. EDAX reports revealed that the films are cadmium rich and contain oxygen. The first derivative of the absorbance was used to estimate the effective bandgap energies of the nanocrystallites and the hyperbolic band model was used to estimate their radii. The results were compared with those obtained by XRD and SEM measurements.