Influence of substrate temperature on thermally evaporated CdS thin films properties

Cadmium sulfide (CdS) thin films were deposited by thermal evaporation with different substrate temperatures in order to study the influence of this parameter on CdS thin film properties. The investigated substrate temperatures are ranged from 25 °C to 300 °C. The film thickness is reduced with increasing the substrate temperature due to the re-evaporation phenomenon. Films prepared with low substrate temperatures have a cubic structure, while films prepared with higher temperature have a hexagonal one. An increase in the substrate temperature yields to highly transparent films with a large optical band gap. The best CdTe/CdS solar cells efficiency is achieved when using CdS buffer layer deposited at higher substrate temperature.

► Cadmium sulfide (CdS) thin films were deposited by thermal evaporation. ► The film thickness is reduced with increasing the substrate temperature. ► Films prepared with low substrate temperatures have a cubic structure, while films prepared with higher temperature have an hexagonal one. ► The best CdTe/CdS solar cells efficiency is achieved when using CdS buffer layer deposited at higher substrate temperature.