Development of nanostructured Cu3SnS4 thin films through annealing of the stack of precursors for photonic applications

被引：2

作者：

Hussain, Zakir ^{[1
]}

Padha, Naresh ^{[1
]}

Banotra, Arun ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] Department of Physics, University of Jammu, Jammu,180006, India

来源：

Optical and Quantum Electronics | 2024年 / 56卷 / 12期

关键词：

Amorphous films - Annealing - Grain boundaries - Grain size and shape - Hard facing - Layered semiconductors - Low temperature production - Photonic band gap - Scale (deposits) - Solar absorbers - Tin alloys - Tin deposits - Titanium nitride - Vacuum evaporation;

D O I：

10.1007/s11082-024-07709-5

中图分类号：

学科分类号：

摘要：

The stack of copper (Cu), tin (Sn), and sulfur (S) precursor layers was deposited on a Corning 2947 substrate using the thermal evaporation method under a vacuum of approximately 2 × 10–4 Pa, employing the sequentially evaporated layer deposition (SELD) technique. The as-deposited stack was annealed at 623–723 K under a vacuum of approximately 2 × 10⁻1 Pa to achieve the Cu3SnS4 phase. The stack exhibits amorphous behaviour, while films grown between 623 and 723 K attain nanostructured Cu3SnS4 (CTS) form. The influence of TA on the characteristics of the Cu3SnS4 layers was investigated through structural, morphological, compositional, optical, and electrical analyses. The annealed CTS films crystallize in a tetragonal crystal system with the space group I42 m (121). The grown films exhibit granular structures, with particles synthesized at 673 K demonstrating increased size. The bandgap (Eg) of the films decreases from 2.13 eV to 1.78 eV, while the absorption coefficient (α) ranges from 1 × 105 to 3 × 105 cm−1, as the annealing temperature (TA) increases from 623 to 723 K. At 673 K, the low resistivity of 9.37 × 10⁻3 Ω-cm, high mobility of 56.4 cm2/V-s, and acceptor concentration of 1.19 × 1019 cm⁻3 result from the increased crystallite size, which reduces grain boundary scattering. Thus, Cu3SnS4 is a promising absorber layer for thin-film solar cells due to its tunable bandgap, high optical absorption, low cost, and the use of earth-abundant elements. This study successfully advances photovoltaic technology by developing an economically viable alternative material for solar cell absorber layers, paving the way for large-scale solar cell production. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2024.

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