Transparent and conductive indium doped cadmium oxide thin films prepared by pulsed filtered cathodic arc deposition

Indium doped cadmium oxide (CdO:In) films with different In concentrations were prepared on low-cost glass substrates by pulsed filtered cathodic arc deposition (PFCAD). It is shown that polycrystalline CdO:In films with smooth surface and dense structure are obtained. In-doping introduces extra electrons leading to remarkable improvements of electron mobility and conductivity, as well as improvement in the optical transmittance due to the Burstein–Moss effect. CdO:In films on glass substrates with thickness near 230 nm show low resistivity of 7.23 × 10−5 Ω cm, high electron mobility of 142 cm2/Vs, and mean transmittance over 80% from 500 to 1250 nm (including the glass substrate). These high quality pulsed arc-grown CdO:In films are potentially suitable for high efficiency multi-junction solar cells that harvest a broad range of the solar spectrum.