Synthesis and characterization of Cu2SnSe3 thin films by electrodeposition route

• We synthesis the CTSe absorber layer by using a single step electrodeposition.
• We have investigated the dependence of annealing temperature of the films.
• X-ray analyzed data revealed that Cu2SnSe3 has a cubic structure.
• The optical band gap varies in the range 1.08 eV–0.96 eV with increasing thermal annealing.
• CTSe film at 300 °C has the lowest resistivity.

A single phase Cu2SnSe3 polycrystalline semiconductor compound has been easily synthesized through electrodeposition technique onto conductive glass ITO substrates from an acidic solution at room temperature for the first time. The electrodeposition of CTSe films was studied using cyclic voltammetry, structural, morphological, optical, and electrical measurements. The effects of the annealing temperature on the growth of CTSe films were studied. XRD and Raman studies showed that the annealed CTSe thin films have a polycrystalline nature with a cubic crystal structure with a preferential orientation (111), and the crystalline size of the CTSe thin films increases as the annealing temperature increases. The AFM investigations show that the deposited film layer widely varies on annealing temperature. The optical band gap of CTSe alloys is inversely related to the grain size and decreases from 1.08 to 0.96 eV. Finally, the Hall effect measurements reveal that the all CTSe films are p-type semiconductors in particular a sample annealed at 300 °C exhibit a high Hall mobility 5.27 cm2/V s and low electrical resistivity 0.91 Ω cm compared to other samples.