Structural, optical and electrical properties of ZnTe thin films electrochemically deposited from a citric acid aqueous solution

ZnTe thin films were electrodeposited onto Au-coated Cu substrates from an electrolytic solution containing ZnSO₄, TeO₂, citric acid and sodium citrate, and the dependence of structure, composition and surface morphology on the solution's Zn concentration were investigated. Results of examinations for resistivity and optical absorption demonstrated, respectively, that as the Zn concentration in the electrolyte was reduced over the range of 5-50 mmol dm^-3, the resistivity of the films obtained continuously decreased and their band gap increased. Quantitative analysis of energy dispersive x-ray analysis and inductively coupled plasma results indicated that the composition ratio (Zn:Te) was approximately stoichiometric under all conditions in this study. X-ray diffraction results revealed that all the ZnTe thin films obtained showed a preferred (111) orientation with cubic structure. ZnTe thin films we transferred onto nonconductive epoxy resin also showed the same structure.