PVD of copper sulfide (Cu 2 S) for PIN-structured solar cells

Thin layers of chalcocite (Cu 2 S) have been deposited via physical vapour deposition using various pre- and post-treatment parameters. The electrical and morphological properties have been investigated by in situ XPS, SEM and XRD measurements. Calibrated photoluminescence experiments were performed to investigate the material's suitability as an absorber layer in thin-film solar cells. Measurements of annealed Cu 2 S layers on glass without any surface passivation showed an optical band gap of 1.25 eV as well as a splitting of the quasi-Fermi levels of 710 meV. This value exceeds the highest reported open-circuit voltage for Cu 2 S-based devices so far, which leads to the assumption that Cu 2 S has not been brought to its full potential yet. The band alignments for ZnO/Cu 2 S as well as Cu 2 S/Cu 2 O interfaces have been determined using in situ XPS interface experiments to suggest a novel device structure according to the favourable PIN-layout. First devices have been built, but show no efficiency due to shunting caused by the inferior morphology of the absorber layers.