Effect of deposition time on lead selenide thermoelectric thin films prepared by chemical bath deposition technique

A series of lead selenide (PbSe) films was deposited at constant bath temperature with various deposition time (3–5 h) using simple chemical bath deposition techniques, to study the effect of deposition time on its structural and thermoelectric properties. The as-deposited film was analyzed through X-ray diffraction, SEM, Energy dispersive X-ray analysis, Raman spectroscopy and Seebeck coefficient measurement. The improvement of crystallinity of the PbSe films was studied using X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering. The structural parameters, such as the lattice constant (a), crystallite size (D), dislocation density (δ) and microstrain (ε) were evaluated from the XRD spectra. Average crystallite size was calculated from Scherrer׳s formula and it was found to be increased from 19.65 to 23.97 nm as the deposition time was varied from 3 h to 5 h. The dislocation density and microstrain were found to vary inversely with the crystallite size, whereas the lattice constant increases with an increase in crystallite size. SEM images show that the morphology of particles strongly depends on the deposition time. The possible growth mechanism for the variation in the morphology is discussed. The thermoelectric measurements have shown n-type conductivity in “as deposited films” and the magnitude of Seebeck coefficient is found to be increasing with an increase in deposition time.