Preparation and characterization of copper indium diselenide films by electroless deposition

The preparation of copper indium diselenide (CIS) films by electroless deposition technique is reported. The films have been deposited on molybdenum substrates. The deposition bath consisted of aqueous solutions of copper chloride, indium chloride, selenous acid and lithium chloride. The pH of the bath was adjusted to 2.2 by adding dilute HCl. The Mo substrate was short-circuited with the aluminum counter electrode for the electroless deposition. The films have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDXA), inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy (ICP), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and optical spectroscopy. The results indicate that reasonable quality CIS films can be grown by simple electroless deposition process followed by recrystallization in selenium atmosphere.