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CdS thin films of varying thicknesses were deposited on cleaned glass substrates at room temperature by thermal evaporation technique in a vacuum of about 2 x 10 -5 torr. UV-VIS spectra of the films were studied using the optical transmittance measurements which were taken in the spectral region from 300 nm to 1100 nm. The absorbance and reflectance spectra of the films in the UV-VIS region were also studied. Optical constants such as optical band gap, extinction coefficient, refractive index, optical conductivity and complex dielectric constant were evaluated from these spectra. All the films were found to exhibit high transmittance (~ 60 -93 %), low absorbance and low reflectance in the visible/ near infrared region from ~ 500 nm to 1100 nm. The optical band gap energy was found to be in the range 2.28 -2.53 eV. All the films annealed at 300°C for 4 hours in vacuum (~ 10 -2 torr) showed a decrease in the optical transmittance with its absorption edge shifted towards the longer wavelength, leading to the result that the optical band gap decreases on annealing the films. Also, on annealing crystallinity of the films improves, resulting in decrease in the optical transmittance.

Simultaneous stretching and corona poling (SSCP) of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) films at elevated temperatures in batch mode greatly enhanced the piezo- and pyroelectric constants. When poled under optimum conditions, a piezoelectric constant d31 approximately 60 pC N-1 and a pyroelectric constant p approximately 6 nC cm-2 K-1 at 30 degrees C were obtained. Both these values are about twice the best values found by the authors, and other workers, for films that were first stretched and then corona poled. The time stability of d31 at all temperatures was also greatly improved by SSCP. They postulate that there is a greater contribution of whole beta crystallite rotation in these SSCP films. X-rays show that they have enhanced beta phase over those that are first stretched and then poled.

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