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A single crystal of (Pb,Cd)Te solid solution with Cd content equal to 5% was grown by self-selecting vapour growth technique and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction using the X'Pert PANalytical diffractometer and Cu Kα 1 radiation. The X-ray diffraction pattern refinement demonstrated the fcc structure of the rock-salt type of investigated sample, no precipitates or other crystal phases were detected. The sample chemical composition was determined on the basis of measured lattice parameter value. Next, the Young modulus and microhardness were determined by the nanoindentation for carefully prepared, (001), (011) and (111)-oriented single crystal plates. The slight anisotropy of two parameters mentioned above has been found and compared with available literature data.

Several Cu2O and TiO2 thin films and four additional TiO2/Cu2O structures were fabricated by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering. The process parameters were selected on the basis of earlier studies and numerical simulations. We examined the morphology of a cross-section of the PV structures, roughness and topography, and the transmission spectra of the thin films. Additionally, the properties of the samples were determined by X-ray diffraction. Next, the morphology cross-sectional and layer compositions of the solar cells was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy. Only one of the TiO2/Cu2O structures appeared smooth and homogeneous with columnar-type growth. For the as-grown films, diffraction peaks were observed and identified as brookite, rutile, CuO, and Cu2O and the average roughness of the samples was 0.5, 1.2, 5.4, and 4.0 nm, respectively. Finally, the transmission spectra of the thin films were recorded. Transmission and reflection spectra of ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy were analyzed, and the optical band gap and absorption coefficient of the oxidized layers were calculated. In the region of 400 to 1000 nm, transmittance varied from 5% to 70% in the TiO2 samples, and from 15% to 40% in the Cu2O samples, and reflectance of the TiO2 and Cu2O samples ranged from 20% to 90%. In the region of 1.5 eV to 3.5 eV, the mean absorption coefficient varied from ∼105 1/cm to ∼3 · 105 1/cm for TiO2 thin film, and from ∼2 · 105 to ∼6 · 105 1/cm for Cu2O thin film. The optical band gap values of the samples shifted slightly toward bulk anatase-3.5 eV, bulk rutile-3.1 eV, and copper(I) oxide. Finally, silver contacts were used for the electrodes. One of the fabricated TiO2/Cu2O PV structures was found to be sensitive to electromagnetic radiance during the experiment.

Single crystals of the (Pb,Cd)Te solid solution with CdTe content up to 9% were grown by self-selecting vapour growth method and investigated by powder X-ray diffraction, inelastic neutron scattering, and nanoindentation measurements. The analysis of the linear part of the LA phonon dispersion, determined by the inelastic neutron scattering demonstrated an increase of the sound velocity (thus the hardening of the crystal lattice) with an increase of CdTe content in the solid solution. An important increase of microhardness value for (Pb,Cd)Te was directly confirmed by results of nanoindentation measurements performed for a few samples with various chemical composition.

Selected mechanical properties are investigated for single PbTe crystals using the nanoindentation method. A few values of maximum load from 5 to 50 mN were selected for the measurements using the Berkovich form of the indenter. The nanohardness and Young's modulus for (100), (110), and (111)oriented planes are determined for the bulk crystal grown by self-selecting vapor growth (SSVG) and characterized by X-ray diffraction. The values of nanohardness and Young's modulus for a thick, MBE-grown, (111)-oriented PbTe layer deposited onto BaF 2 substrate obtained for the comparison, using maximum load from 1 to 20 mN, indicate a difference between the mechanical properties of bulk crystal and thick MBE-grown layer of the same material. The results suggest a much higher nanohardness value of the MBEgrown layer than that of the bulk crystal. The values resulting from all measurements are compared with those given by theoretical predictions and a few existing experimental data.