scholarly journals Effect of RF Power on the Properties of Sputtered-CuS Thin Films for Photovoltaic Applications

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 688 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donghyeok Shin ◽  
SangWoon Lee ◽  
Dong Ryeol Kim ◽  
Joo Hyung Park ◽  
Yangdo Kim ◽  
...  

Copper sulfide (CuS) thin films were deposited on a glass substrate at room temperature using the radio-frequency (RF) magnetron-sputtering method at RF powers in the range of 40–100 W, and the structural and optical properties of the CuS thin film were investigated. The CuS thin films fabricated at varying deposition powers all exhibited hexagonal crystalline structures and preferred growth orientation of the (110) plane. Raman spectra revealed a primary sharp and intense peak at the 474 cm−1 frequency, and a relatively wide peak was found at 265 cm−1 frequency. In the CuS thin film deposited at an RF power of 40 W, relatively small dense particles with small void spacing formed a smooth thin-film surface. As the power increased, it was observed that grain size and grain-boundary spacing increased in order. The binding energy peaks of Cu 2p3/2 and Cu 2p1/2 were observed at 932.1 and 952.0 eV, respectively. Regardless of deposition power, the difference in the Cu2+ state binding energies for all the CuS thin films was equivalent at 19.9 eV. We observed the binding energy peaks of S 2p3/2 and S 2p1/2 corresponding to the S2− state at 162.2 and 163.2 eV, respectively. The transmittance and band-gap energy in the visible spectral range showed decreasing trends as deposition power increased. For the CuS/tin sulfide (SnS) absorber-layer-based solar cell (glass/Mo/absorber(CuS/SnS)/cadmium sulfide (CdS)/intrinsic zinc oxide (i-ZnO)/indium tin oxide (ITO)/aluminum (Al)) with a stacked structure of SnS thin films on top of the CuS layer deposited at 100 W RF power, an open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 115 mA, short circuit current density (Jsc) of 9.81 mA/cm2, fill factor (FF) of 35%, and highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 0.39% were recorded.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Galib Hashmi ◽  
Md. Shawkot Hossain ◽  
Mohammad Junaebur Rashid

Abstract Solar cells made of Cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) and copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS) are currently the most widely studied thin film technologies.To increase the performance and for better understanding of the behavior of CdTe, CIGS and CZTS solar cell simulations have been performed using WxAMPS software. Moreover, all the solar cells have been simulated with different buffer layers and transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layers such as Cadmium Sulphide (CdS), Zinc Sulphide (ZnS), Aluminum Zinc Oxide (AZO) and Indium Tin Oxide (ITO).Variations in the thickness and doping concentrations of TCO layers, buffer layers, and absorber layers have been done to test the performance of the solar cells.The effects of using a Back-Surface Reflector (BSR) layer made of Zinc Telluride (ZnTe) have also been studied.Furthermore, the simulation work is exceptional in this regard since all of the layers of CdTe, CIGS, and CZTS solar cells were modeled using optical parameters (absorption coefficients) from the literature. All the solar cell's open circuit voltage (Voc), short circuit current (Isc), maximum power (Pm), fill factor (FF), and photovoltaic efficiencies have been represented in this work. The simulation results may provide valuable insight in developing and better understanding of high-efficiency thin film solar cells.


1999 ◽  
Vol 574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norifumi Fujimura ◽  
Tamaki Shimura ◽  
Toshifumi Wakano ◽  
Atsushi Ashida ◽  
Taichiro Ito

AbstractWe propose the application of ZnO:X (X = Li, Mg, N, In, Al, Mn, Gd, Yb etc.) films for a monolithic Optical Integrated Circuit (OIC). Since ZnO exhibits excellent piezoelectric effect and has also electro-optic and nonlinear optic effects and the thin films are easily obtained, it has been studied as one of the important thin film wave guide materials especially for an acoustooptic device[1]. In terms of electro-optic and nonlinear optic effects, however, LiNbO3 or LiTaO3 is superior to ZnO. The most important issue of thin film waveguide using such ferroelectrics is optical losses at the film/substrate interface and the film surface, because the process window to control the surface morphology is very narrow due to their high deposition temperature. Since ZnO can be grown at extremely low temperature, the roughness at the surface and the interface is expected to be minimized. This is the absolute requirement especially for waveguide using a blue or ultraviolet laser. Recently, lasing at the wavelength of ultraviolet, ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic behaviors of ZnO doped with various exotic elements (exotic doping) have been reported. This paper discusses the OIC application of ZnO thin films doped with exotic elements.


2022 ◽  
Vol 1048 ◽  
pp. 189-197
Author(s):  
Tippasani Srinivasa Reddy ◽  
M.C. Santhosh Kumar

In this study report the structural and optical properties of Copper Tin Sulfide (Cu2SnS3) thin films on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate using co-evaporation technique. High purity of copper, tin and sulfur were taken as source materials to deposit Cu2SnS3 (CTS) thin films at different substrate temperatures (200-350 °C). Further, the effect of different substrate temperature on the crystallographic, morphological and optical properties of CTS thin films was investigated. The deposited CTS thin films shows tetragonal phase with preferential orientation along (112) plane confirmed by X-ray diffraction. Micro-Raman studies reveled the formation of CTS thin films. The surface morphology, average grain size and rms values of the deposited films are examined by Scanning electron spectroscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) shows the presence of copper, tin and sulfur with a nearly stoichiometric ratio. The optical band gap (1.76-1.63 eV) and absorption coefficient (~105 cm-1) of the films was calculated by using UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy. The values of refractive index, extinction coefficient and permittivity of the deposited films were calculated from the optical transmittance data.


2021 ◽  
Vol 902 ◽  
pp. 65-70
Author(s):  
Samar Aboulhadeed ◽  
Mohsen Ghali ◽  
Mohamad M. Ayad

We report on a development of the structural, optical and electrical properties of poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly (styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) conducting polymer thin films. The PEDOT:PSS thin films were deposited by a controlled thin film applicator and their physical properties were found to be effectively modified by isopropanol. The deposited films were investigated by several techniques including XRD, UV–Vis, SPM and Hall-effect. Interestingly, by optimizing the PEDOTS:PSS/ISO volume ratio (v:v), we find that the film charge carriers type can be switched from p to n-type with a high bulk carriers concentration reaching 6×1017 cm-3. Moreover, the film surface roughness becomes smoother and reaching a small value of only 1.9 nm. Such development of the PEDOT:PSS film properties makes it very promising to act as an electron transport layer for different energy applications.


10.14311/1767 ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Píchal ◽  
Julia Klenko

Thin film technology has become pervasive in many applications in recent years, but it remains difficult to select the best deposition technique. A further consideration is that, due to ecological demands, we are forced to search for environmentally benign methods. One such method might be the application of cold plasmas, and there has already been a rapid growth in studies of cold plasma techniques. Plasma technologies operating at atmospheric pressure have been attracting increasing attention. The easiest way to obtain low temperature plasma at atmospheric pressure seems to be through atmospheric dielectric barrier discharge (ADBD). We used the plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) method applying atmospheric dielectric barrier discharge (ADBD) plasmafor TiOx thin films deposition, employing titanium isopropoxide (TTIP) and oxygen as reactants, and argon as a working gas. ADBD was operated in filamentary mode. The films were deposited on glass. We studied the quality of the deposited TiOx thin film surface for various precursor gas inlet positions in the ADBD reactor. The best thin films quality was achieved when the precursor gases were brought close to the substrate surface directly through the inlet placed in one of the electrodes.High hydrophilicity of the samples was proved by contact angle tests (CA). The film morphology was tested by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The thickness of the thin films varied in the range of (80 ÷ 210) nm in dependence on the composition of the reactor atmosphere. XPS analyses indicate that composition of the films is more like the composition of TiOxCy.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Aamir Shafi ◽  
Amal Bouich ◽  
Laiq Khan ◽  
Hanif Ullah ◽  
Julia Mari Guaita ◽  
...  

Abstract Electrochemical deposition was used to create a quaternary CZTS (Cu2ZnSnS4) kesterite thin layer. An aqueous solution of CZTS was used to deposit a thin layer over Indium Tin Oxide. The effects of deposition time (variation) on CZTS thin films under ambient conditions were investigated in this study. Several available characterization systems were used to study the samples as they were produced. The polycrystalline description of the layer is inveterate by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The SEM as well as AFM study show that deposition time improved surface morphology and topography of CZTS thin films which increase several nm in grain size. Furthermore, depending upon the deposition duration, the optical study reveals an acceptable bandgap in a range of 1.44 to 1.71 eV. Characteristics of high-quality CZTS absorber layers for solar cell applications are discovered to be affected by deposition time variation. To check the effect of this bandgap variation (1.44 to 1.71 eV) on the performance of a CZTS based thin film solar cell, a simulation software SCAPS-1D is being used.


Author(s):  
Mohammed T. Hussein ◽  
Mohammed Jawad H. Kadhim

Hybrid bilayer heterojunction Zinc Phthalocyanine (ZnPc) thin-film P-type is considered as a donor active layer as well as the Zinc Oxide (ZnO) thin film n-type is considered as an acceptor with (Electron Transport Layer). In this study, using the technique of Q-switching Nd-YAG Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) under vacuum condition 10-3 torr on two ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) and (AL) electrodes and aluminum, is used to construct the hydride bilayer photovoltaic solar cell heterojunction (PVSC). The electrical properties of hybrid heterojunction Al/ZnPc/ZnO/ITO thin film are studied. The results show that the voltage of open circuit (V_oc=0.567V), a short circuit (I_sc=36 ?A), and the fill factor (FF) of 0.443. In addition, the conversion efficiency of (n=3.4%) is recorded with Xenon lamp with an intensity 235mw/cm2 .


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Longfei Song ◽  
Tony Schenk ◽  
Emmanuel Defay ◽  
Sebastjan Glinsek

Highly conductive (conductivity 620 S cm−1) and transparent ITO thin films are achieved at low temperature (350 °C) through effective combustion solution processing via multistep coating. The properties show potential for next generation flexible and transparent electronics.


Photonics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshihiko Kiwa ◽  
Tatsuki Kamiya ◽  
Taiga Morimoto ◽  
Kentaro Fujiwara ◽  
Yuki Maeno ◽  
...  

This study develops a terahertz (THz) chemical microscope (TCM) that visualizes the distribution of chemical reaction on a silicon-based sensing chip. This chip, called the sensing plate, was fabricated by depositing Si thin films on a sapphire substrate and thermally oxidizing the Si film surface. The Si thin film of the sensing plate was irradiated from the substrate side by a femtosecond laser, generating THz pulses that were radiated into free space through the surface field effect of the Si thin film. The surface field responds to chemical reactions on the surface of the sensing plate, changing the amplitude of the THz pulses. This paper first demonstrates the principle and experimental setup of the TCM and performs the imaging and measurement of chemical reactions, including the reactions of bio-related materials.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (04) ◽  
pp. 1950133
Author(s):  
RAHIMA NASRIN ◽  
HUMAYUN KABIR ◽  
A. H. BHUIYAN

In order to understand the variation of surface morphology and optical properties due to modification, an attempt has been made to synthesize iodine-doped n-butyl methacrylate thin films through plasma polymerization technique. Field emission scanning electron microscope images displayed that the surface of the modified plasma polymerized n-butyl methacrylate (PPnBMA) thin films became smooth after iodine doping. Atomic force microscopic analysis reveals that with increasing doping time from 0[Formula: see text]min to 60[Formula: see text]min the surface root-mean-square roughness value is decreased from 0.68[Formula: see text]nm to 0.51[Formula: see text]nm, which suggests that roughness of the PPnBMA thin film surface quite improved due to iodine doping. UV-Vis absorption spectroscopic analyses exhibited that iodine doping noticeably decreased both the direct and indirect energy bandgap values of PPnBMA thin film. The effect of doping by iodine on absorption coefficient, extinction coefficient, etc. of these thin films have been also discussed.


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