X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and structure of Cu-In alloy films

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques have been used to study the influence of electrodeposition potential on the composition and structure of Cu-In alloy plated from a non-aqueous bath. It has been shown that the dominant alloy phase present is Cu7In4. A preferred (530) orientation of the Cu7In4 was revealed by the XRD results. It is also shown that the Cu-In alloys plated at -0.95, -1.0 and -1.05 V (with respect to platinum) exhibit different degrees of sensitivity to atmospheric contamination and compositional inhomogeneity, that deposited at -1.0 V (platinum) being the least sensitive of all. A uniformly distributed polycrystalline deposit morphology was also indicated by the scanning electron microscopy study.