Electrodeposition and Characterization of Copper Oxide Thin Films
Cuprous oxide is a low cost semiconductor with applications in solar energy conversion and oxygen sensing devices. Fabrication of these films by electrodeposition offers a simple and cost effective method for producing large-area thin films in mass quantities. An interesting phenomenon associated with this material is the variation of the conduction type with fabrication technique and/or annealing conditions. This study investigates cupper oxide films grown on Indium Tin Ocide (ITO) coated glass substrates via reduction of Copper (II) Lactate at room temperature. Current- Voltage (I-V) characterization is used as well as x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and temperature dependant resistance in the analysis of selected films. The construction of the equipment used to produce these films is also discussed. Both a constant current source and constant voltage source have been built and are controlled from a data acquisition board (CIO-DAS1600) installed in a desktop computer. The data acquisition board is controlled by a program created in LabVIEW.
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