Influence of Cd content on structural and optical properties of chemical bath deposited CdxPb1−xS thin films

This paper describes the preparation and characterization of nanocrystalline CdxPb1−xS thin films by chemical bath deposition method with different Pb and Cd solute ratios. XRD, HRTEM and SAED patterns show the nanocrystalline nature of films with the co-existence of cubic, hexagonal and tetragonal phases, while micro-Raman spectra reveals the presence of cubic and hexagonal phases in the films. The average crystallite size of CdxPb1−xS estimated from TEM and XRD methods were nearly same. The chemical bonding present in the films was studied by FTIR spectral analysis. SEM images show uniformly distributed grains of different sizes over the substrates. Optical studies show the prominent blue shift in band gap energy (Eg) with the increase in Cd content in PbS. The increment of Cd addition to CdxPb1−xS has led to enhance the transmittance as well as band gap energy.