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Effect of substrate temperature on the properties of Cu2FeSnS4 thin films by vacuum spray pyrolysis and fabrication of p–n heterojunction devices

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Abstract

Cu2FeSnS4 (CFTS) is a promising p-type semiconducting material for thin film solar photovoltaics. Thin films of CFTS are deposited using vacuum spray pyrolysis technique onto soda lime glass substrate at different temperatures in the range of 325–400 °C. A low pressure of 10−3 m bar was maintained throughout the deposition of the films. Structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties of all the samples were studied. The energy band gap values are obtained from optical studies and it is in the range of 1.2–1.3 eV with the deposition temperature. All the samples showed good electrical properties including high values of conductivity in the range of 1–10 Scm−1 and mobility of the order of 102 cm2 V−1 S−1. The film deposited at 375 °C showed relatively better electrical properties than the other films. All the as-deposited samples are p-type in nature. p–n heterojunction with devices structure of < FTO/AZO/CFTS/Ag > are fabricated using aluminium doped zinc oxide as n-type layer. I–V measurements showed p–n junction diode characteristics for all fabricated devices with CFTS films deposited at different substrate temperatures. The lowest ideality factor of 3.09 was obtained for the device with CFTS films deposited at 375 °C.

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Acknowledgements

The author N. Aravind acknowledges the receipt of JRF funding provided by UGC, Govt. of India. The authors also acknowledge INUP programme for providing the characterisation facilities at IISc, Bangalore.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Optoelectronic Materials and Devices Lab, Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, 620015, India

    N. Aravind & M. C. Santhosh Kumar

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  1. N. Aravind
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Conceptualization: MCSK, NA; Methodology: MCSK, NA; Formal analysis and investigation: NA; Writing - original draft preparation: NA; Supervision: MCSK. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to M. C. Santhosh Kumar.

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Aravind, N., Santhosh Kumar, M.C. Effect of substrate temperature on the properties of Cu2FeSnS4 thin films by vacuum spray pyrolysis and fabrication of p–n heterojunction devices. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 34, 1718 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11133-y

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