Characterization of CdSe thin films deposited by chemical bath solutions containing triethanolamine

Cadmium selenide (CdSe) thin films were prepared by chemical bath deposition on glass substrates at different temperatures beginning at room temperature (25 °C) upto 80 °C from an aqueous alkaline medium using a precursor solution containing cadmium acetate, 2,2′,2′′-nitrilotriethanol (triethanolamine), ammonia and sodium selenosulphate. The pH of bath was kept constant around 10.50±0.10. Energy dispersive analysis of X-rays confirmed that the films are nearly stoichiometric in composition. The structural and surface morphological properties have been studied by X-ray diffraction, Scanning electron microscopy and Atomic force microscope techniques. X-ray diffraction study reveals a cubic structure with preferential orientation along (111) direction. The dependency of structural parameters such as crystallite size, strain and dislocation density with different bath temperatures for CdSe thin films are calculated. X-ray peak broadening was used to evaluate the crystallite size and lattice strain by the Williamson–Hall plots. Optical properties are studied by photoluminescence spectra which shows blue shift in peak position and reduction in luminescence intensity were observed for films deposited at different bath temperatures.