Optimization of structural, optical and electrical properties of CdZnTe thin films with the application of thermal treatment

The structural, optical and electrical properties of electron beam vacuum evaporated CdZnTe thin films have been optimized with the application of thermal treatment. The films of thickness 400 nm were deposited on glass and ITO substrates followed by thermal treatment at 150 °C, 300 °C and 450 °C. The XRD study reveals that the films have cubic structure and polycrystalline nature along with predominant reflection (111). The optical transmittance is found to increase with annealing treatment while optical energy band gap is observed to decrease. The current-voltage measurements show ohmic behavior and electrical conductivity is found to increase with thermal treatment. The EDAX patterns exhibit the presence of Cd, Zn and Te elements in the deposited film. The experimental results confirm that the annealed films display a demanding behavior for tandem solar devices.