Structural and Optical Properties of PECVD-prepared Cadmium Telluride Thin Films

Cadmium telluride thin films of were prepared by Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD). High-purity tellurium and cadmium were used as sources of starting materials, and high-purity argon was utilized as a plasma-forming gas. Low-temperature RF (40.68 MHz) nonequilibrium plasma discharge was initiated using an external 4-turned inductor placed on the narrow part of a pear-shaped plasma-chemical quartz reactor. The deposition process was carried out at reduced pressure (0.01 Torr). Thin films of cadmium telluride were synthesized at various plasma discharge powers in the range from 50 to 100 W. The resulting samples were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV spectroscopy. A relationship between the production conditions and the structural and optical properties of thin CdTe films has been established.