Structural, optical and electrical studies of DC-RF magnetron co-sputtered Cu, In & Ag doped SnS thin films for photovoltaic applications

This work reports the tuning of optical and electrical properties of SnS through the incorporation of Cu, In and Ag atom without altering its chemical and crystal structural properties, using DC-RF magnetron co-sputtering technique with an in-situ substrate temperature of 400 degrees C. Doping is increased up to similar to 10% by varying the DC sputtering voltage as evident from EDAX analysis. Morphological studies show the variation in surface morphology, particle size and surface roughness due to the incorporation of dopant cation into SnS lattice sites. Film with optimized doping of similar to 5% resulted the substitutional doping of dopant cations (Cu2+, In3+ and Ag2+) into SnS lattice sites which resulted an improved absorption coefficient and hall carrier concentration with a decrease in band gap and electrical resistivity. Hall measurement studies of Cu 4.8% doped SnS film shows the p-type conductivity with lowest electrical resistivity of 90 Omega cm and improved carrier concentration of 10(17) cm(-3).