Surface Roughness and Structure of Electrodeposited Cu2O Layers on Si Substrates

Cu2O thin films were electrodeposited on n-Si (100) and p-Si (111) substrates, and characterized by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and optical reflectance measurements. The results showed Cu2O deposits with low surface roughness that increase continuously with the thickness. The grains are columnar with cone-shape and texture that follows the orientation of the substrate. The optical gap and the refraction index were also dependent on the texture of the layers.