Pulsed laser deposition and electrodeposition techniques in growing CdTe and CdxHg1-xTe thin films

CdTe and CdxHg1-xTe (CMT) thin films were grown by a cathodic electrodeposi tion technique Also CdTe was deposited using a Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD ) technique. Optical and XPS analysis techniques have been used to characte rise them. Important differences were found in adherence, composition, band gap, refractive index, absorption coefficient, really useful for these mat erials in solar cells. Variables like energy of the laser pulse and tempera ture of substrate are determinants to improve the structural and optical pr operties. The presence of Hg in CdTe films is able to control the bandgap a lthough it carries some problems, like segregation and diffusion, found in XPS measurements, that have to be solved. PLD technique could be really of interest in order to avoid this kind of problems. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.