Fabrication and electrical characterization of p-Sb2S3/n-Si heterojunctions for solar cells application

Antimony trisulphide (Sb2S3) films were prepared by thermal evaporation technique on n-type single crystal Si substrates to fabricate p-Sb2S3/n-Si heterojunctions. The electrical transport properties of the p–Sb2S3/n-Si heterojunctions were investigated by current–voltage (I–V) and capacitance–voltage (C–V) measurements. The temperature-dependent I–V characteristics revealed that the forward conduction was determined by multi-step tunnelling current and the activation energy of saturation current was about 0.54 eV. The 1/C2–V plots indicated the junction was abrupt and the junction built-in potential was 0.6 V at room temperature and decreased with increasing temperature. The solar cell parameters have been calculated for the fabricated cell as Voc = 0.50 V, Jsc = 14.53 mA cm−2, FF = 0.32 and η = 4.65% under an illumination of 50 mW cm−2.

► Thin films of Sb2S3 were successfully prepared by thermal evaporation technique.
► The electrical transport properties of the p-Sb2S3/n-Si heterojunctions were investigated by current--voltage (I–V) and capacitance–voltage (C–V) measurements.
► p-Sb2S3/n-Si is abrupt junction diode and the photovoltaic parameters were evaluated using I–V characteristics under illumination.