The Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 11 No 1 (2007): 324 – 330

 

 

ELECTROPHORETIC DEPOSITION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF COPPER SELENIDE THIN FILMS

 

Mohd Fairul Sharin Abdul Razak and Zulkarnain Zainal*

 

Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia,

43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

 

*Corresponding author:  zulkar@fsas.upm.edu.my

 

Abstract

Copper selenide thin films  were  prepared  by  electrophoretic  deposition  (EPD)  using copper  selenide  powder synthesized by precipitation method. EPD is a combination of two processes which is electrophoresis and deposition. EPD was found suitable in a mixture of methanol and toluene which allows the particles to be well suspended and migrated to the electrode surface. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results on the powder showed the formation CuSe as a major phase with few CuSe₂  peaks. The  scanning electron microscopy (SEM)  micrograph of the powder showed irregular surface structures  due  to polycrystalline form. Thermal gravimetric curve showed that copper selenide powder was preferable heated below 350°C for heat treatment analysis. The deposition of CuSe films was able to be carried out in a short period of time due to high deposit ion rate with appropriate amount deposited on the substrate. The photoresponse did not show any significant dependent to the bath temperature. The sample showed indirect transition with band gap energy of 1.51 eV.

 

Keywords: Electrophoretic deposition;  Copper selenide; Thin films; Semiconductor;

 

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