Influence of substrates on the structural and optical properties of chemically deposited CdS films

Cadmium sulfide (CdS) films were chemically deposited on glass, polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and Si wafer. Effects of substrate types on the structural and optical properties of the films were investigated. There is a preferential orientation of the crystallites in the film grown on the glass along the c-axis (perpendicular to the plane of the substrate) producing a strong hexagonal (0 0 2) or cubic (1 1 1) peak, regardless of the presence of ITO coating. However, such preferential orientation decreases or disappears when the deposition was made onto PC or PET substrates. The crystallinity of CdS films on glass and Si is better than that of the other ones. The average transmittance of the films on PC and PET is about 50% and 55%, respectively, and increases up to 70% for glass substrate. The improvement of the transmittance was obtained from ITO-coated substrates.