Chemical bath deposition of CdS thin films: Growth and structural studies

Chemical-bath-deposited CdS thin films from an ammonia-thiourea solution have been studied by x-ray diffraction, surface profilometry, ellipsometry, and other techniques. The compactness of the CdS films, structural properties of the films, and the growth mechanism have been investigated. For the deposition conditions used, we found that the film compactness reaches its maximum at a deposition time of 35 minutes. Films grown at longer deposition times are less compact, consistent with the CdS duplex layer structure proposed previously. This transition from compact layer growth to porous layer growth is important for depositing CdS films in solar cell applications. Based on x-ray diffraction (XRD) studies, we were able to determine the crystal phase, lattice constant, and other structural properties.