Characterization of CdTe thin films with different compositions obtained by CMBD for thin film solar cells

CdTe thin films with different compositions, i.e. Cd/Te ratio of ∼0.79, 0.88, 0.94, 1.01, 1.05, 1.08, were fabricated by a novel and low cost chemical molecular beam deposition method (CMBD) under hydrogen flow in atmospheric pressure. For this purpose, Cd and Te granules were used as precursors. Thin films were deposited on glass and metal substrates at 600 °C. The growth rate was varied in the range of (10-30) Å/s. The composition ratio in the samples was controlled by varying the molecular beam intensity (MBI) ratio. The morphological, structural, electrical and optical properties of the CdTe thin films were investigated by SEM, XRD, Hall-effect and photoluminescence (PL) measurements, respectively.