EVOLUTION OF THE MORPHOLOGY, STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION OF CDTE-FILMS POTENTIOSTATICALLY ELECTRODEPOSITED FROM AN ETHYLENE GLYCOL-BASED BATH

A study of cadmium telluride electrodeposition under potentiostatic co nditions on a nickel electrode in an ethylene glycol-based bath contai ning 1 M CdCl2, 0.01 M TeCl4 and 0.3 M KI at 160-degrees-C is reported . A deposition mechanism is proposed based on steady-state polarizatio n characteristics. The influence of the deposition potential on the de posit morphology, composition and structure was also investigated by S EM and X-ray analysis. It is shown that the observed trends agree with the proposed mechanism of electrodeposition, and that surface process es and chemical reactions play a fundamental role. The experimental op erative conditions to obtain stoichiometric thin films with uniform gr anular morphology are clearly outlined.