Investigation of the absorption properties of sputtered tin sulfide thin films for photovoltaic applications

Author

Banai, R.E. ; Lee, H. ; Lewinsohn, M. ; Motyka, M.A. ; Chandrasekharan, R. ; Podraza, N.J. ; Brownson, J.R.S. ; Horn, Mark W.

Author_Institution

Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA, USA

fYear

2012

fDate

3-8 June 2012

Abstract

Tin sulfide (SnS) is an absorber with promising optoelectronic properties and low environmental constraints of interest for high efficiency solar cells. Sputtered SnS thin films were deposited at target powers 105-155 W and total pressures of 5 to 60 mTorr in argon. X-ray diffraction patterns confirmed a dominant tin monosulfide phase. The absorption coefficient was determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry and unpolarized spectrophotometry measurements. Both methods show that the films have absorption coefficients above the band gap in the range of 10⁵-10⁶ cm^-1.

Keywords

X-ray diffraction; absorption; ellipsometry; energy gap; semiconductor thin films; solar cells; sulphur compounds; tin compounds; SnS; X-ray diffraction patterns; absorption coefficient; absorption properties; band gap; environmental constraints; high efficiency solar cells; monosulfide phase; optoelectronic properties; photovoltaic applications; power 105 W to 155 W; pressure 5 mtorr to 60 mtorr; spectroscopic ellipsometry; sputtered tin sulfide thin films; unpolarized spectrophotometry measurements; Films; Microscopy; absorption; ellipsometry; photovoltaic cells; semiconductor materials; sputtering; tin compounds;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2012 38th IEEE

Conference_Location

Austin, TX

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-0064-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2012.6317592

Filename

6317592