Pulsed laser deposition of quaternary Cu₂ZnSnSe₄ thin films

We report the successful growth of quaternary Cu 2 ZnSnSe 4 (CZTSe) thin films by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) using Nd:YAG laser. It was found that CZTSe films atomic ratios were close to target atomic ratios with a slight metal excess and selenium deficiency. Quaternary CZTSe films grew and crystallized as a stannite‐type structure even at room temperature. All CZTSe films showed a p‐type electrical conductivity with a high absorption coefficient of 10 4 –10 5 cm –1 , a bandgap of 1.5 eV and a carrier concentration of the order of 10 17 –10 18 cm –3 . These results show that pulsed laser deposition could be employed as a particularly effective deposition method for the preparation of quaternary compounds thin films. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)