Fabrication and optical characterization of zinc telluride thin films using electrodeposition technique

A well adherent thin film of Zinc Telluride (ZnTe) has been deposited on Flourine doped Tin oxide glass substrates from acidic baths containing Zinc heptahydrate and Tellurium dioxide. Films of different thicknesses with their molar concentrations were obtained. A mini Schimadzu UV-VIS Spectrophotometer was used to determine the optical absorbance of the films over the wavelength range of 300-900nm at room temperature. There is a decrease in absorbance as the molar concentrations of the precursors increases; while transmittance and energy band gap shown an increase. The band gap values obtained varied between 2.10eV and 2.7eV, for as deposited films. Also, photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) measurement reveals that ZnTe thin films exhibit p-type conductivity.