Abstract
Thermally evaporated zinc-cadmium selenide (CdxZn1-xSe) thin films with different Cd-concentration (0.0≤x≤1.0, at%) have been prepared. The deposition process of films was controlled where the vacuum was fixed at ≈10−5 Pa, the film thickness at 7500 Å, and the rate of deposition at ≈100 Å/s. These prepared films have been annealed under vacuum at 500⁰C for 2-hrs. X-ray diffraction, XRD study confirmed the crystallinity nature of annealed CdxZn1-xSe films with a face-centered cubic structure, which is transformed into a hexagonal structure with increasing the cadmium. Energy-dispersive X-ray analysis shows that there is good consistency between the detected and selected element ratios. Scherrer, Williamson-Hall, Size-Strain plot, and Halder-Wagner methods were used to examine the crystallite size and microstrain using XRD peak-broadening analysis. According to the Williamson-Hall method the crystallite size increased from 14.70 nm to 31.30 nm and microstrain decreased from 14.19×10−3 to 7.29×10−3. The Cd-addition leads to improving the film crystallinity and reducing the crystal imperfections.
•CdxZn1-xSe thin films of different Cd-ratio have been prepared via thermal evaporation.•Several distribution functions were applied to estimate the sample broadening.•Extensive study via XRD was performed to discuss microstructural parameters and crystal defects.•A comparative study between different structural routes to get the most accurate method.•Increment of Cd-content led to improve the crystallinity and minimize crystal defects.