Preparation of Cu2SnS3Thin Films by Sulfurization of Cu/Sn Stacked Precursors

Cu2SnS3(CTS) has been reported to have various band gap energies in the range of 0.93–1.77 eV and an absorption coefficient of 1.0×104cm-1. It consists of elements that are inexpensive due to their abundance in Earth's crust. Consequently, CTS is expected to be utilized in the absorber layers of thin-film solar cells. In this study, Cu/Sn stacked-layer thin-film precursors were deposited on glass and glass/Mo substrates by electron beam evaporation. CTS thin films were fabricated by sulfurizing the precursors at temperatures of 450–580 °C for 2 h in an atmosphere of N2and sulfur vapor. CTS films were estimated to have band gap energies of 0.96–1.00 eV by extrapolation. A solar cell fabricated using a CTS thin film sulfurized at 580 °C exhibited an open-circuit voltage of 211 mV, a short-circuit current of 28.0 mA/cm2, a fill factor of 0.43, and a conversion efficiency of 2.54%.