Growth and post-annealing effect on the properties of the new sulfosalt SnSb2S4 thin films

In this work, the effect of the thermal annealing atmosphere on the structural, optical and electrical properties of the sulfosalt SnSb2S4 films obtained by thermal vacuum evaporation was studied. The samples are annealed at different atmospheres in the temperature range 50−275 °C for 1 h. It is observed that SnSb2S4 films exhibit a dramatic change in their electrical properties at transition temperatures of about 150 °C, 170 °C and 200 °C after an annealing process under air, nitrogen and vacuum atmospheres, respectively. The electrical resistivity measurements suggest that obtained films show ‘semiconducting’ behavior with resistivities between 10 and 100 Ω cm; the annealed films present rather lower resistivities between 10−2 and 10−3 Ω cm and exhibit obvious p+-type semiconductor behavior with a dominant crystalline component.

► We propose new sulfosalt SnSb2S4 films for optoelectronics applications.
► Influence of annealing process on the physical properties of SnSb2S4 films investigated.
► Transition temperature depends on the atmosphere nature.