Influence of post-thermal annealing on the properties of sprayed cadmium–zinc oxide thin films

We have prepared ZnO. CdO. thin films by spray pyrolysis. Mixed thin film oxides with different compositions of x 1yx cadmium and zinc were deposited on glass substrates and exposed to different annealing treatments at a fixed temperature. The effects due to post-thermal annealing on the structural, optical and electrical properties of the variable composition thin films have been studied depending upon the x value. The crystalline structure was studied by X-ray diffraction XRD.. We found the presence of CdO XRD patterns for low Zn concentrations, and a mixing of CdO cubic.and ZnO hexagonal. phases for low Cd concentrations. In all cases, the crystallite sizes increased with the annealing. In addition, the band-gap and the resistivity vary between those found for pure CdO and ZnO. The changes of the latter parameters with the post-thermal annealing are studied also as a function of the x value. q2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.