Physicochemical features of dielectrical nano-barrier layers in CdSexS1-x films formed by screen printing method

Abstract

The thermal activation process of CdSexS1-x films, formed by screen printing, was investigated. We mostly focused on the influence of thermal treatment conditions on oxidised film formation on the crystalline grain surface with nano-barrier “dielectric-semiconductor” layer generation. The composition and thickness of nanobarrier layers were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) methods. The thickness of nano-barrier layers was found to be 2–5 monolayers. It was shown that photoelectric properties of CdSexS1-x films were determined by the doping level and nano-barrier layer characteristics. By the use of XRD and SEM methods we experimentally investigated and justified that better microstructure and photoelectric properties (RD / RL ≥ 107) of CdSexS1-x films are achieved by photosensitivity activation during 15–30 min thermal treatment in quasi-closed air atmosphere at 550 °С or during 5–15 min at 600 °С with low speed cooling (3 °С/min). The manufacturing method for obtaining CdSexS1-x films with assigned characteristics determined by paste composition and properties, thermal treatment regime and medium optimisation was developed.