Structural Study of CdS Films Annealed in Oxidizing Atmosphere

Cadmium sulphide thin films were deposited onto glass substrates by chemical bath deposition (CBD) from a bath containing cadmium acetate, ammonium acetate, thiourea and ammonium hydroxide. The CdS films were annealed in air at various temperatures and time in order to investigate the influence of post-deposition annealing and CdCl2 treatments on the structure. The various structural parameters such as grain size, lattice constant, dislocation density and strain, were investigated using XRD. The as-deposited films have the mixed (cubic and hexagonal) phase. The grain size increases due to annealing and grain growth is a function of annealing temperature and time duration. In general the results showed that the strain, grain growth and the re-crystallization of CdS depends on the post-deposition annealing duration, temperatures and the presence of CdCl2. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2012.542]