Synthesis and characterization of CsSnI3 thin films

We report on the synthesis and characterization of CsSnI3 perovskite semiconductor thin films deposited on inexpensive substrates such as glass and ceramics. These films contained polycrystalline domains with typical size of 300 nm. It is confirmed experimentally that CsSnI3 compound in its black phase is a direct band-gap semiconductor, consistent with the calculated band structure from the first principles. The band gap is determined to be ∼1.3 eV at Γ point at room temperature.