Tin sulfide thin films and Mo/p-SnS/n-CdS/ZnO heterojunctions for photovoltaic applications

Tin sulfide (SnS) is one of the most promising materials for photovoltaics. Here we report on the preparation as well as chemical, structural and physical characterization of the Mo/p-SnS/n-CdS/ZnO heterojunctions. The SnS thin films were grown by hot wall deposition method on the Mo-coated glass substrates at 270–350 °C. The crystal structure and elemental composition were examined by X-ray diffraction and Auger electron spectroscopy methods. The CdS buffer layers were deposited onto the SnS films by chemical bath deposition. The ZnO window layers were deposited by a two step radio frequency magnetron sputtering, resulting in a ZnO bilayer structure: the first layer consists of undoped i-ZnO and the second of Al-doped n-ZnO. The best junctions have an open circuit voltage of 132 mV, a short circuit current density of 3.6 mA/cm2, a fill-factor of 0.29 and efficiency up to 0.5%.

► We used hot wall vacuum deposition method to obtain the absorbing SnS layers.
► We obtained Mo/n-CdS/p-SnS/ZnO heterojunctions.
► The light conversion efficiency of the structures reaches 0.5%.