Influence of the substrate temperature on the structural, optical, and morphological properties of (1 0 1) oriented ZnSe thin films for window applications in solar cells

Structural, optical, and morphological studies of the sprayed zinc selenide (ZnSe) thin films at substrate temperatures of 623 K and 673 K are reported here. Films were characterized using energy dispersive analysis (EDX), X-ray diffractogram (XRD), and UV–Vis spectra. ZnSe films deposited at 673 K showed a strong intense peak along the preferred hexagonal (1 0 1) oriented plane with an excellent crystallite size of 57.4 nm with the Se/Zn ratio of 0.8. A transmittance of nearly 75% was recorded in the visible regime. The band gap energy of the film deposited at 673 K was 2.7 eV. The prepared samples were assessed for the solar window layer.