CdO thin films synthesized by a modified reactive thermal deposition process

Thin films of transparent conducting n-type cadmium oxide have been deposited on glass substrates by a modified reactive thermal evaporation technique. X-pay diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence analysis confirm that the films are cadmium oxide. XRD also reveals that the 250 degrees C annealed films are polycrystalline with a preferred orientation along the (111) diffraction plane. The lattice parameter was found to be 4.961 Angstrom. The films show a high optical transmittance (70-92%) in the visible and near-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. A direct bandgap value of 2.45 +/- 0.05 eV has been obtained for the CdO film. The room temperature resistivity, carrier concentration and mobility were determined as 1.45 x 10(-3) Omega cm, 7.35 x 10(19) cm(-3) and 59.77 cm(2)/V s, respectively.