title: Growth of ultrathin films of cadmium telluride and tellurium as studied by electrochemical atomic force microscopy.
abstract: Time dependent, cathodic electrodeposition of ultrathin CdTe and Te films has been studied in 50 mM H(2)SO(4) + 1 mM CdSO(4) + 0.1 mM TeO(2) solutions at room temperature under potential control using electrochemical atomic force microscopy (EC-AFM). The films were also characterized electrochemically and with X-ray diffraction. The growth mechanism and the composition of the films depends on the applied potentials. Island-like growth mode was observed for CdTe films when the deposition potential was -0.35 V (SHE). At a more positive deposition potential of 0.138 V (SHE), Cd was not co-deposited into the film but affected the dynamic growth mode of the deposit. At this voltage smooth Te films were obtained. Depending on the applied potential, Cd acts either as a co-deposition element for CdTe film growth, or as a mediator for layer-by-layer growth of Te films.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Ruxandra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vidu
authors.forename: Jie-Ren
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Ku
authors.forename: Pieter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stroeve