Electrochemical Deposition of GaSxOy Thin Films

GaSxOy thin films were deposited on indium-tin-oxide- and fluorine-doped-tin-oxide-coated glass substrates by electrochemical deposition from an aqueous solution of Ga-2(SO4)(3) and Na2S2O3. GaSxOy is a wide band gap semiconductor and suitable as a buffer layer in solar cells. The as-deposited films were characterized by Auger electron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and optical transmission spectroscopy. We observed the photosensitivity of the films by means of photoelectrochemical measurements. We confirmed that GaSxOy films show n-type conduction. The film deposited under the optimum conditions exhibited high transmission and a wide energy band gap of 3.5 eV. (C) 2009 The Japan Society of Applied Physics