Structure and optical properties of Cd-substituted ZnO (ZnCdO) thin films synthesized by the dc reactive magnetron sputtering.

The ternary ZnCdO ( x = 0, 0.2) thin films with wurtzite structure and highly (002)-preferred orientations were deposited on glass substrates by the direct current (dc) reactive magnetron sputtering method. The X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), optical absorption spectra and photoluminescence (PL) were employed to investigate the structural and the optical properties in detail. The results indicated that as x varied from x = 0-0.2, the diffraction angle of the (002) peaks decreased from ~34.36° to ~33.38° and the lattice spacing increased from 0.260 to 0.268 nm. Moreover, the optical band-gap of the ZnCdO thin films with the wurtzite structure decreased from 3.20 eV at x = 0-2.70 eV at x = 0.2. Correspondingly, the near-band-edge PL was tuned in a wide visible region from ~393 to 467 nm. The chemical bonding states of Cd in ZnCdO alloy thin films were examined by XPS analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]