The effect of CdCl₂ treatment on the structural properties and electrical conductivity types of ZnTe thin films

Abstract

This paper reports the successful surface treatments of p- and n-ZnTe thin film semiconducting layers prepared by electrodeposition technique. The surface treatment was carried out by using a chlorine precursor which is CdCl₂. The initial experiment carried out by applying CdCl₂ treatment to ZnTe layers of approximately 1200 nm showed that the CdCl₂ treatment did not introduce additional Cdrelated phase to the ZnTe layers as revealed by the X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements carried out on glass/FTO/p-ZnTe and glass/FTO/n-ZnTe mono-layers. The electrical conductivity type as determined from photo-electro-chemical (PEC) cell measurement also showed that after applying CdCl₂ aqueous solution for the treatment of p- and n-ZnTe layers grown on conducting glass substrates, the type remains unchanged.

Keywords: p-ZnTe, n-ZnTe, mono-layers, CdCl2 surface treatment, structural, electrical