Optical characterization of thermally evaporated thin CdO films

Cadmium Oxide films have been prepared by vacuum evaporation method on a glass substrate at room temperature. Detailed structural, optical, and electrical properties of the films are presented at different annealing temperatures. The crystal structure of the samples was studied by X-ray diffraction. The spectral absorption coefficient of the CdO film at the fundamental absorption region (450-650nm) was determined using the spectral data of transmittance. The direct and indirect band gap energies were determined and found to be 2.33 eV and 1.95 eV respectively. The third order optical nonlinearities chi((3)) of CdO films has been measured used the z-can technique. The real and imaginary parts of chi((3)) have been measured at 514 nm and found to be 1.7 x 10(-3) esu and 3.0 x 10(-3) esu, respectively. (C) 2003 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.