Preparation of Cu2SnS3 Thin Films by Sulfurization of Cu/Sn Stacked Precursors

• Published in: Jpn J Appl Phys Vol. 51; no. 10; pp. 10NC35 - 10NC35-4
• Main Authors: Chino, Kotaro, Koike, Junpei, Eguchi, Shinya, Araki, Hideaki, Nakamura, Ryota, Jimbo, Kazuo, Katagiri, Hironori
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Japan Society of Applied Physics 25.10.2012
• ISSN: 0021-4922; 1347-4065
• DOI: 10.1143/JJAP.51.10NC35

Cu 2 SnS 3 (CTS) has been reported to have various band gap energies in the range of 0.93--1.77 eV and an absorption coefficient of $1.0\times 10^{4}$ cm -1 . It consists of elements that are inexpensive due to their abundance in Earth's crust. Consequently, CTS is expected to be utilized in the absorber layers of thin-film solar cells. In this study, Cu/Sn stacked-layer thin-film precursors were deposited on glass and glass/Mo substrates by electron beam evaporation. CTS thin films were fabricated by sulfurizing the precursors at temperatures of 450--580 °C for 2 h in an atmosphere of N 2 and sulfur vapor. CTS films were estimated to have band gap energies of 0.96--1.00 eV by extrapolation. A solar cell fabricated using a CTS thin film sulfurized at 580 °C exhibited an open-circuit voltage of 211 mV, a short-circuit current of 28.0 mA/cm 2 , a fill factor of 0.43, and a conversion efficiency of 2.54%.