Influence of immersion cycles on the stoichiometry of CdS films deposited by SILAR technique

Good stoichiometric CdS films are fabricated using the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) technique. Several sets of films are prepared by keeping the number of cycles of immersion as 25, 50, 75 and 100 and the effects of number of immersion cycles on the stoichiometry together with their optical and structural properties are studied. The X-ray diffraction studies showed that the films prepared from 100 cycles exhibited good crystallinity. The optical investigations revealed that the transmittance in the visible range is found to be gradually decreased as the number of immersion cycles is increased. The energy dispersive X-ray analysis showed that the stoichiometry of the SILAR deposited CdS films strongly depends on the number of immersion cycles.

► Good quality CdS films with near stoichiometry are realized.
► It is achieved by introducing fresh solution in the final cycles of the dipping process.
► This study is the first of its kind in the SILAR process.
► Stoichiometry is suitably correlated with structural, optical and surface properties.