Fabrication of highly crystallized Cu2SnS3 thin films through sulfurization of Sn-rich metallic precursors

Haitao ZHANG; Meng XIE; Shu ZHANG; Yong XIANG

doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2014.03.014

Fabrication of highly crystallized Cu₂SnS₃ thin films through sulfurization of Sn-rich metallic precursors

Haitao ZHANG, Meng XIE, Shu ZHANG^*, Yong XIANG

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed) › peer-review

53 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Cu₂SnS₃ is an emerging material with great potential for applications in thin film solar cells. However, the conversion efficiency of Cu₂SnS₃-based solar cells is mainly limited by the poor crystallization and microstructure of the absorber layer. Here we report a fabrication route that can form compact, single-phase Cu₂SnS ₃ films through sulfurization of Sn-rich metallic precursors. In the high quality films, deposited both on bare soda lime glass substrates and on Mo-coated glass substrates, columnar grains with width and length of several micrometers extend through the thickness of the films. After sulfurization, the composition of sulfide films obtained from Sn-rich precursors self-adjusts to the stoichiometry of Cu₂SnS₃. Furthermore, the impurity phases and pores in films can be inhibited efficiently by using precursors with Cu/Sn ratio close to 2. The band gap energy value of the fabricated Cu ₂SnS₃ thin film is determined to be 1.35 eV, suggesting the application potential of this thin film in solar cells.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	199-203
Number of pages	5
Journal	Journal of Alloys and Compounds
Volume	602
Early online date	13 Mar 2014
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2014.03.014
Publication status	Published - 25 Jul 2014
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

The authors (S.Z. and Y.X.) gratefully acknowledge the Innovation Fund from the State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices (Contract No. CXJJ2010001) and the startup funds from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. This project is partly supported by the National Science Funds of China (Contract No. 51102038), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Contract No. ZYGX2011J133 and ZYGX2012J156), and Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University. The authors would like to thank Prof. Hong Ji and Dr. Gang Wu for the XRD measurements and fruitful discussion.

Keywords

Columnar grains
Sn loss
Solar energy materials
Thin films

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jallcom.2014.03.014

Cite this

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title = "Fabrication of highly crystallized Cu2SnS3 thin films through sulfurization of Sn-rich metallic precursors",

abstract = "Cu2SnS3 is an emerging material with great potential for applications in thin film solar cells. However, the conversion efficiency of Cu2SnS3-based solar cells is mainly limited by the poor crystallization and microstructure of the absorber layer. Here we report a fabrication route that can form compact, single-phase Cu2SnS 3 films through sulfurization of Sn-rich metallic precursors. In the high quality films, deposited both on bare soda lime glass substrates and on Mo-coated glass substrates, columnar grains with width and length of several micrometers extend through the thickness of the films. After sulfurization, the composition of sulfide films obtained from Sn-rich precursors self-adjusts to the stoichiometry of Cu2SnS3. Furthermore, the impurity phases and pores in films can be inhibited efficiently by using precursors with Cu/Sn ratio close to 2. The band gap energy value of the fabricated Cu 2SnS3 thin film is determined to be 1.35 eV, suggesting the application potential of this thin film in solar cells.",

keywords = "Columnar grains, Sn loss, Solar energy materials, Thin films",

author = "Haitao ZHANG and Meng XIE and Shu ZHANG and Yong XIANG",

note = "The authors (S.Z. and Y.X.) gratefully acknowledge the Innovation Fund from the State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices (Contract No. CXJJ2010001) and the startup funds from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. This project is partly supported by the National Science Funds of China (Contract No. 51102038), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Contract No. ZYGX2011J133 and ZYGX2012J156), and Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University. The authors would like to thank Prof. Hong Ji and Dr. Gang Wu for the XRD measurements and fruitful discussion.",

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T1 - Fabrication of highly crystallized Cu2SnS3 thin films through sulfurization of Sn-rich metallic precursors

AU - ZHANG, Haitao

AU - XIE, Meng

AU - ZHANG, Shu

AU - XIANG, Yong

N1 - The authors (S.Z. and Y.X.) gratefully acknowledge the Innovation Fund from the State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices (Contract No. CXJJ2010001) and the startup funds from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. This project is partly supported by the National Science Funds of China (Contract No. 51102038), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Contract No. ZYGX2011J133 and ZYGX2012J156), and Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University. The authors would like to thank Prof. Hong Ji and Dr. Gang Wu for the XRD measurements and fruitful discussion.

PY - 2014/7/25

Y1 - 2014/7/25

N2 - Cu2SnS3 is an emerging material with great potential for applications in thin film solar cells. However, the conversion efficiency of Cu2SnS3-based solar cells is mainly limited by the poor crystallization and microstructure of the absorber layer. Here we report a fabrication route that can form compact, single-phase Cu2SnS 3 films through sulfurization of Sn-rich metallic precursors. In the high quality films, deposited both on bare soda lime glass substrates and on Mo-coated glass substrates, columnar grains with width and length of several micrometers extend through the thickness of the films. After sulfurization, the composition of sulfide films obtained from Sn-rich precursors self-adjusts to the stoichiometry of Cu2SnS3. Furthermore, the impurity phases and pores in films can be inhibited efficiently by using precursors with Cu/Sn ratio close to 2. The band gap energy value of the fabricated Cu 2SnS3 thin film is determined to be 1.35 eV, suggesting the application potential of this thin film in solar cells.

AB - Cu2SnS3 is an emerging material with great potential for applications in thin film solar cells. However, the conversion efficiency of Cu2SnS3-based solar cells is mainly limited by the poor crystallization and microstructure of the absorber layer. Here we report a fabrication route that can form compact, single-phase Cu2SnS 3 films through sulfurization of Sn-rich metallic precursors. In the high quality films, deposited both on bare soda lime glass substrates and on Mo-coated glass substrates, columnar grains with width and length of several micrometers extend through the thickness of the films. After sulfurization, the composition of sulfide films obtained from Sn-rich precursors self-adjusts to the stoichiometry of Cu2SnS3. Furthermore, the impurity phases and pores in films can be inhibited efficiently by using precursors with Cu/Sn ratio close to 2. The band gap energy value of the fabricated Cu 2SnS3 thin film is determined to be 1.35 eV, suggesting the application potential of this thin film in solar cells.

KW - Columnar grains

KW - Sn loss

KW - Solar energy materials

KW - Thin films

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