One-step growth of thin film SnS with large grains using MOCVD

Abstract

Thin film tin sulphide (SnS) films were produced with grain sizes greater than 1 μm using a one-step metal organic chemical vapour deposition process. Tin–doped indium oxide (ITO) was used as the substrate, having a similar work function to molybdenum typically used as the back contact, but with potential use of its transparency for bifacial illumination. Tetraethyltin and ditertiarybutylsulphide were used as precursors with process temperatures 430–470 °C to promote film growth with large grains. The film stoichiometry was controlled by varying the precursor partial pressure ratios and characterised with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy to optimise the SnS composition. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy were used to determine the phases that were present in the film and revealed that small amounts of ottemannite Sn₂S₃ was present when SnS was deposited on to the ITO using optimised growth parameters. Interaction at the SnS/ITO interface to form Sn₂S₃ was deduced to have resulted for all growth conditions.

Keywords:

• Thin film SnS
• photovoltaics
• metal organic chemical vapour deposition

Classification:

• 50 Energy Materials
• 209 Solar cell / Photovoltaics
• 306 Thin film / Coatings
• 500 Characterization

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) for funding the 2nd Solar Photovoltaic Academic Research Consortium (SPARC II) which supported this research. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Guillaume Zoppi from Northumbria University for supplying the Molybdenum substrates. All data created during this research are openly available from the Zenodo data archive at DOI:10.5281/zenodo.1043466.