Deposition of Se thin films of 80-350 nm in thickness from a chemical bath at a deposition yield of more than 95% is reported. These films are utilized to prepare SnSe and SnSe 2 thin films either by heating a vacuum deposited Sn thin film in close contact with the Se thin film at 200 • C in a nitrogen atmosphere for 1 h or by heating a Se-Sn stack in air at 400 • C for about 5 min. By controlling individual film thicknesses and the conditions of heating, SnSe 2 or composite films of SnSe 2 and SnSe are formed. An optical band gap of 1-1.27 eV, electrical conductivity of 0.01-0.2 −1 cm −1 and the photoconductivity of these materials fulfil the basic requirements for their integration into photovoltaic structures.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Amorphous selenium films were prepared at room temperature using the simple and safe method of chemical bath deposition. This was achieved with an acidified solution of Na 2 SeSO 3 at a pH value of 4.5. In order to confirm the formation of amorphous selenium (a-Se), samples were characterized using x-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectroscopy and optical absorption studies. The optical bandgap of the material was found to be 2.09 eV. Indium selenide could be prepared by annealing this a-Se in a multilayer structure glass/SnO 2 /a-Se/In.