Thin films of SnS (tin sulphide) were thermally evaporated onto glass and CdS/ITO (cadmium sulphide/indium tin oxide) coated glass substrates and then annealed in vacuum with the aim of optimising them for use in photovoltaic solar cell device structures. The chemical and physical properties of the layers were determined using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray analysis, x-ray diffraction, and transmittance versus wavelength measurements. "Superstrate configuration" devices were also made using indium tin oxide as the transparent conductive oxide, thermally evaporated cadmium sulphide as the buffer layer and evaporated copper/indium as the back contact material. Capacitance-voltage data are given for the fabricated devices. Capacitancevoltage, spectral response and I-V data are given for the fabricated devices.
Tin sulphide (SnS) thin films deposited by thermal evaporation on glass substrates are studied for different substrate temperatures. The increase in substrate temperature results in the increase of the crystallite size and change in orientation of the films. The crystal structure of the film is that of SnS only and for temperatures 300 o C the films are of random orientation, whereas for higher temperatures the films become (040) oriented. The variation of Sn/S composition was accompanied by a reduction in optical energy bandgap from 1.47 to 1.31 eV as the substrate temperature increases. The Urbach energy was found stable at 0.169 ± 0.002 eV for temperature up to 350 °C. Photoluminescence emission was observed only for films exhibiting stoichiometric properties and shows that a precise control of the film composition is critical to fabricate devices while an increase in grain size will be essential to achieve high efficiency.
In recent years, zinc cadmium sulphide (Zn x Cd 1-x S) alloy compounds have paid much attention in the fields of opto-electronics, particularly in photovoltaic devices because of its tunable energy gap and the lattice parameters. The energy band gap of Zn x Cd 1-x S is controlled by the change of Zn-composition in order to suit the material properties with that of absorber material in solar cells. In this paper, we report on the effect of Zn-composition on physical properties of Zn x Cd 1-x S thin films deposited on corning glass substrates by solution growth method. The layers were prepared for different 'x' values that vary in the range, 0-1.0 at. %. The as-grown layers were characterized using EDAX, XRD, SEM, and UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometers. All the layers showed a strong (002) plane as the preferred orientation that exhibited the hexagonal crystal structure. The composition of the layers agrees approximately with that of the elements in the solution. The films showed an average optical transmittance of 72 % at a zinc composition of 0.75 with a band gap of 3.88 eV.
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