Laser assisted electro-deposition of earth abundant Cu2ZnSnS4 photovoltaic thin film

In this study, we introduce laser assisted electro-deposition (LAED) to deposit earth abundant Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin film solar cell material at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. It is found LAED results in much denser and larger CZTS crystals. Laser induced local photo-electrochemical reaction significantly increases the electro-deposition rate. The thermal effect of laser irradiation also improves the CZTS thin film quality by reducing the internal defects such as grain boundaries and inter-crystal gaps. An almost stoichiometric composition for the manufactured CZTS film. A post laser crystallization is applied to further improve crystal quality.