Defect characterization of spray pyrolised β-In2S3 thin film using Thermally Stimulated Current measurements

Thermally Stimulated Conductivity (TSC) has been used to analyse defects in the novel material β-In2S3. These films were deposited using spray pyrolysis technique, varying In:S concentration ratio in the spraying solution. TSC measurements allowed the study of electrical property and non-radiative transitions, due to the defects present in the material. TSC spectra revealed four defects with their prominence varying with In:S concentration ratio. Samples with lower In concentration showed the presence and prominence of indium vacancy. A chemical impurity level due to the presence of chlorine was also detected. Even though sulphur vacancy existed in all the samples irrespective of the variation of In:S concentration ratio its effect decreased with the increase of sulphur concentration. Another defect level was also detected from TSC measurements at high temperature that was attributed to the replacement of sulphur by oxygen which was maximum in films prepared from a spray solution of In:S = 2:3 and minimum for 2:8. This high temperature defect level acts as a neutral center while all the other three levels were seen to be coulomb repulsive. Results from XPS analysis are found to be in good agreement with the TSC results. C 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.