Influence of Dip Cycles on the Structural, Optical and Morphological Properties of CdS-SILAR Deposited Thin Films

Abstract

Cadmium sulphide (CdS) thin films were deposited on a glass substrate by a relatively simple and cost effective successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method at temperature 80ºC at different deposition cycles. For a fine nanocrystalline thin film growth, the parameters include concentrations of cationic and ionic precursors, number of immersion cycles, and the immersion time. A study was made to know how dip cycles affects the structural, surface morphological and optical properties of the film using X-ray diffraction (XRD), EDAX, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV-VIS (ultraviolet visible) spectrophotometer. The deposited CdS thin films were found to be greenockite αCdS film with a strong preferred orientation along the (002) plane exhibit hexagonal phase with optical band gaps between 2.38 and 2.70eV. The band gap with a value to a certain extent larger than the distinctive value of the bulk CdS (2.42 eV), can be ascribed to quantum confinement effects due to the nanometer crystallite size of the CdS thin films.

Keyword: Thin films, SILAR, SEM, XRD, UV-VIS

Cite this Article

Kester O. Ighodalo, Tochukwu M. Emeakaroha, Blessing N. Ezealigo, et al. Influence of dip cycles on the structural, optical and morphological properties of CdS-SILAR deposited Thin Films. Journal of NanoScience, NanoEngineering & Applications. 2016; 6(3): 19–26p.