EFFECT OF ANNEALING ON THE OPTICAL PROPERTY OF RF-SPUTTERED CdTe THIN FILM

The optical property of CdTe thin film is important for applications such as the compound semiconductor type solar cells. CdTe films are prepared by RF sputtering at various substrate temperature between $25^{\circ}C$ and $300^{\circ}C$, then, annealed in argon gas environment at $400^{\circ}C$. The annealing process of the thin film caused variation in the film structure and the composition of films. The deformation of CdTe thin film was observed by X-ray diffractometry. After annealing, the grain size increased and the portion of the non-crystalline CdTe reduced. Futhermore, the structure of sputtered CdTe film grown at the substrate temperature more than $250^{\circ}C$ was enhanced in the (111) direction of zincblend structure. There was a discrepancy, in the spectroscopic ellipsometer spectrum, between the single crystal CdTe and the sputtered CdTe thin films, especially in the region over 3.2eV. An oxidation layer was found on the CdTe thin film by spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis.