Influence of sintering temperature on screen printed Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) films

Screen printing is a useful and simple method for coating layers of several solar materials, but care must be taken in preparing stoichiometric CZTS film due to its instability at a high processing temperature and a small chemical potential domain. This paper reports screen printing prepared CZTS films and the influence of sintering temperature on CZTS properties. The thermostability, structural, electronic and optical properties are studied. The direct optical band gap energies of the films vary from 1.39 to 1.60 eV, while the resistivities change from 830 to 6 Ω cm after sintering at different temperatures up to 550 °C. A high photosensitivity of 14% is achieved for the sample sintered at 450 °C. The phenomena observed are also discussed.

► The influences of sintering temperature on structure and properties of screen printed Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) were investigated.
► It was found that the direct optical band gap increased with increasing the sintering temperature.
► The screen printed CZTS film after sintering at 450 °C had a high photosensitivity (Gi − Gd)/Gd of 14%.
► The hexagonal CuS phase aggregated after sintering at 500 °C and higher temperature.