Influences of indium doping and annealing on microstructure and optical properties of cadmium oxide thin films

The influences of indium doping and subsequent annealing in nitrogen and air atmospheres on the microstructure and optical properties of cadmium oxide films were studied in detail with the aid of various characterizations. X-ray photoelectronic spectroscopy analysis shows that indium atom forms chemically oxidized bonds in Cd–O matrix. X-ray diffraction results demonstrate that CdO structure remains FCC structure with indium doping, whereas the preferential orientation transforms from (222) into (200) orientation. Indium doping prevents the large crystalline growth, and this role still works under both nitrogen and air annealing processes. Similarly, CdO films show rough surface under annealing conditions, but the force has been greatly weakened at high doping level. It is clear that refractive index and extinction coefficient are closely correlated with crystalline size for undoped films, whereas it turns to the doping level for doped films, which can be performed by the mechanism of indium atom substitution. This work provides a very useful guild for design and application of optical–electronic devices.