Synthesis and physical properties of low cost, non toxic, earth abundant p-type CuInS2 thin film as absorber layer for photovoltaic application

Abstract

Copper Indium disulfide (CIS) thin films were synthesized by chemical solution deposition method on glass substrates. Low processing temperatures of 420 °C under nitrogen annealing is key feature of this study.CIS thin films on glass were prepared by dissolving copper (II) chloride, Indium (III) chloride and Thiourea in 2-methoxy ethanol. Surface structures and morphology of the synthesized CIS thin films studied by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy, respectively, revealed a phase pure growth and smooth morphology with average crystallite sizes of the order of 2.97 nm. Hall Effect study demonstrates that synthesized CIS thin film is p-type with holes as majority charge carriers. Temperature dependence of optical band gap was studied in the wavelength range of 200-1400 nm and was found to decrease with increasing temperature. Detailed results on synthesis and physical properties will be presented