Development of transparent conducting copper and iron co-doped cadmium oxide films: Effect of annealing in hydrogen atmosphere

Hydrogenated (annealed in hydrogen atmosphere) cadmium oxide (CdO) thin films co-doped with iron (Fe) of different levels and fixed (2.5%) copper (Cu) amount were deposited on glass and silicon wafer substrates by thermal evaporation. The films were characterised with X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, optical spectroscopy, and dc-electrical measurements. The obtained results show important improvements in the conductivity, mobility, and carrier concentration compared to un-doped and non-hydrogenated CdO. Hydrogenated CdO doped with 2.5% Cu and 1.3% Fe improved the conductivity (2293.6 S/cm) by ~46 times, mobility (78.31 cm2/V s) by ~11 times, and carrier concentration (1.82×1020 cm−3) by ~4 times. This suggests the possibility of using CdO:Cu:Fe–H as transparent-conducting-oxide and dilute-magnetic-semiconductor field of applications.