Sputter grown sub-micrometer thick Cu2ZnSnS4 thin film for photovoltaic device application

• Structural evaluation of sputter grown sub-micrometer thick Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) films.
• The CZTS films grown using quaternary stoichiometric target at room temperature.
• Visible and UV Raman analysis for secondary phase formation.
• CZTS-based thin film solar cells show open circuit voltage ~600 mV.
• Sputter grown uniform CZTS absorber for large scale photovoltaic technology.

Structural properties and solar cells performance of sputter grown sub-micrometer thick (~600 nm) Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) films are investigated for low cost and large scale photovoltaic deployment. The CZTS films are deposited using single quaternary stoichiometric target at room temperature. X-ray diffraction, micro-Raman spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy measurements were carried out to investigate the structural property and secondary phase formation. The intense phonon peak at 334 cm−1 in the visible Raman spectra confirms the deposition of single phase CZTS films. CZTS-based thin film solar cells show excellent performance with open circuit voltage ~600 mV and over all cell efficiency of ~3.07%, exhibiting commercial potential toward large scale fabrication of photovoltaic devices.

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