Zn concentration’s effects on the structure, optical, and photoconductivity properties of Zn_xCd_1–xS thin films synthesized by chemical spray pyrolysis

In this study, the Zn_xCd_1-xS ternary compounds are prepared as thin films on a glass slide substrate at 350 °C using a spray pyrolysis technique. Using X-ray diffraction to examine the films' structure, it was possible to determine that they were polycrystalline. The hexagonal crystal structure of films with x up to 0.4 in Zn_xCd_1–xS has been found to exhibit a preferred orientation of the (101), (002), and (110) planes. A cubic zinc blende structure with a (111) plane preference orientation is observed for x = 0.6 and 0.8. The optical energy gap was found to have increased from 2.45 to 3.52 eV for x = 0 to 1, according to transmittance assessments. The temperature dependence of d.c. electrical conductivity σ, which was found to be semiconducting, was also found to be in the range of 308–373 K. This resulted in an activation energy Ea of 0.26 eV for x = 0 and 0.73 eV for x = 1. Finally, based on the measurement of photoconductivity's intensity dependency, x = 0.6 was determined to be the greatest photosensitivity.