Characterization of ZnS and Cu doped ZnS semiconductor thin films produced by pulsed electrochemical method

In thin film based photovoltaic (PV) technology, the fabrication of binary metal chalcogenides has attracted more attention due to their important structural and optical properties recently. Among various alternatives, zinc sulfide (ZnS) is considered to be a promising material with a wide band gap and n-type conductivity. In addition, ZnS is non-toxic, earth abundant material. On the other hand, copper doped zinc sulfide is also an upcoming PV material and it is less studied semiconductor up to now. For this reason, the aim of this thesis is to explore the structural and optical properties of undoped and copper doped ZnS thin films. Electrodeposition technique was used as the way of preparation of thin films due to its cost efficiency and easy control over the deposition parameters. In this work, the deposition of undoped and copper doped ZnS thin films were deposited on indium tin oxide glass (ITO) substrates using a simple two-electrode system in which deposition temperature was kept at 50°C. The effect of copper doping on the structural, morphological and optical properties of ZnS thin films was investigated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman scattering spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV/VIS/NIR spectrometer.