Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
APPLIED PHYSICS A: MATERIALS SCIENCE AND PROCESSING, cilt.131, ss.1-17, 2025 (SCI-Expanded)
In this study, CdS thin flms were produced in a quasi-closed volume using two diferent techniques (classical and cryogenic thermal evaporation techniques) between the 100–573 K substrate temperature, and their characteristic properties (structural, electrical, and optical properties) were investigated. While CdS thin flms were produced at 373 K, 473 K, and 573 K substrate temperatures in the classical technique (hot), they were produced at 100–300 K substrate temperature range with 50 K steps in the cryogenic technique (cold). The X-Ray Difraction (XRD) analysis showed that the CdS thin flms grew in a hexagonal structure in the (002) plane at all substrate temperatures. According to the feld emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) images, the thin flms produced at 200 K substrate temperature consisted of equally sized spherical grains. This situation shows that the soliton growth mechanism occurs at a substrate temperature of 200 K during the flm production process with the cryogenic technique. Due to the characteristic properties of the soliton waves occurring on the substrate surface in the soliton growth mechanism (mass transport), the flms grow in a tight-packed form. Therefore, the produced flms consist of clusters of equal size, providing a homogeneous surface and a uniform thickness. In addition, Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) and optical analyses showed that the CdS thin flm produced at 200 K substrate temperature had the smallest average surface roughness value (Ra) and the highest optical transmittance value. It was found that the energy band gap (2.37–2.47 eV) and resistivity (1.25× 103 –5.39× 103 Ω-cm) values of CdS thin flms increased with decreasing substrate temperature. The carrier density increased with decreasing substrate temperature (3.91× 1017–1.73× 1016 cm−3). Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis showed that the flms grew stoichiometrically at substrate temperatures of 473 K and 200 K. The results brought out that in case of using of the produced CdS thin flms at a substrate temperature of 200 K by the new cryogenic technique as an optical window layer could provide signifcant increases in efciency in solar cells. In addition, ideal substrate temperature values for CdS thin flms that can be used in photodevice production were determined for both techniques.