Physical properties of Bi-doped CdTe thin films deposited by cosputtering

The structural, morphological, electrical, and optical properties of CdTe-Bi cosputtered thin films related with composition are presented. The films were grown on Corning glass substrates at room temperature from a CdTe-Bi target. The composition measurements show that the Bi content in the films ranges from x = 0.0 to x = 6.37 at%, depending on the area fraction covered by the Bi piece attached to the CdTe target. The structure of the annealed films was determined from X-ray diffraction measurements. Two kinds of structures were observed, depending on the Bi content: (1) CdTe polycrystalline films containing a small amount of Bi that is probably incorporated in the Cd and Te sites of die CdTe lattice. (2) Amorphization of the polycrystalline films, with higher Bi content. From the experimental results, we concluded that using this deposition method n/p-type Bi-doped CdTe polycrystalline films can be produced with electrical resistivity between 10 ²-10 ³ Ω cm and electron mobility between 10 ¹ and 10 ² cm ² V ^-1 s ^-1.