Abstract
Undoped and Cu doped SnS films were deposited onto glass substrates by spray pyrolysis technique in order to investigate the effect of Cu doping on their physical properties. Surface investigations showed that Cu doping reduced the surface roughness of SnS films from 36.5 to 8.8 nm. XRD studies revealed that all films have recently solved large cubic phase of SnS (π-SnS) with a-lattice of 11.53 Å and Cu doping led to a reduction in crystallite size from 229 to 198 Å. Additionally, all deposited films were found to be under compressive strain. Optical band gaps of SnS:Cu varied in the range of 1.83–1.90 eV. Hall-effect measurements exhibited that all films have p-type conductivity with low hole concentration (∼1011–1012 cm−3) and high electrical resistivity (∼104–105 Ωcm).
Highlights
Thin films solar cells (TFSCs) have great importance due to their low cost and competitive conversion efficiency compared to c-Si solar cells
x-ray diffraction (XRD) studies revealed that all films have recently solved large cubic phase of SnS (p-SnS) with alattice of 11.53 Å and Cu doping led to reduction in crystallite size from 229 Å to 198 Å
Agglomeration-like morphology led to high surface roughness was noticed for doped SnS films through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and AFM images
Summary
Thin films solar cells (TFSCs) have great importance due to their low cost and competitive conversion efficiency compared to c-Si solar cells. In order to overcome the above mentioned drawbacks, thin film absorbers, which are binary compounds and contain inexpensive earth-abundant elements, emerges as a suitable material for solar cell applications [5]. In this context, tin mono sulfide (SnS) is a good candidate because it meets the above requirements and its high absorption coefficient (>104 cm-1) along with suitable direct band gap ranging from ~1.3 eV (for orthorhombic structure) to ~1.7 eV (for cubic structure) [6,7]. Very few studies that investigate the effect of Cu doping on the physical properties of large cubic phase of SnS by spray pyrolysis exist in the literature. Variation in physical properties of spray pyrolyzed SnS:Cu films as a function of Cu doping concentration were investigated
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