Characteristics of CdSe films electrodeposited with microprocessor based pulse plating unit

In this paper we report the results on pulse electrodeposited cadmium selenide thin films using microprocessor control. The as-deposited and heat- treated films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and optical absorption studies. Polycrystalline CdSe films obtained by pulse electrodeposition indicated both cubic and hexagonal structures whose lattice constants agree well with the standard values. An average grain size of 3 μm and an absorption coefficient of 10 4 cm −1 were obtained by SEM and optical studies. The power conversion efficiency for an illumination of 80 mW/cm 2 in 1 M polysulphide was in the range of 1.75–2.4% for the films plated at different duty cycles. A peak quantum efficiency of 0.75 was obtained at 725 nm. Acceptor concentration of 1.6×10 16 cm −3, electron mobility of 5.63 cm 2/V s, and minority carrier diffusion length of 0.185 μm have been obtained.