Over the years, chemical bath deposition (CBD) is being widely used in the
fabrication of Cu (In, Ga) Se��� and CdTe based solar cells and photovoltaics. Many
chalcogenides have been successfully deposited by this technique and it has
received a great deal of attention owing to its low temperature and low-cost nature.
CdS, an important layer in heterojunction solar cells and other optoelectronic
devices, has been successfully deposited by this technique, which is normally
carried out as a batch process. But a major disadvantage of batch CBD is the
formation of particles and also unwanted deposition generating a lot of waste and
thus resulting in defective devices.
In this study, we have developed a continuous flow microreactor for CBD
to overcome the drawbacks of batch process. This novel microreactor setup makes
use of a micromixer for efficient mixing of the reactant streams and helps in
controlling the particle size and distribution before the solution impinges on the
hot substrate.
CdS semiconductor thin films were successfully deposited on oxidized
silicon substrates using the microreactor setup and a batch reactor as well.
Comparisons of nanostructured thin films were performed by various
characterization techniques. The surface morphology of the deposited films,
carried out by AFM, SEM and Dektak surface profiler, clearly indicated an
improved film quality in case of microreactor. This setup can also be used to
deposit various other compound semiconductor thin films with improved film
quality and minimum waste production. / Graduation date: 2005
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/32160 |
| Date | 11 March 2005 |
| Creators | Mugdur, Prakash |
| Contributors | Chang, Chih-Hung |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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