Growth and characterization of Sb2Se3 thin films for solar cells

The growth of antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) thin films the first time by atmospheric pressure chemical molecular beam deposition (CMBD) method has been reported. The morphological and structural properties of the films were studied as a function of the hydrogen flow rate at different substrate temperature. Experimental data indicate that Sb2Se3 films grown as Se-rich at low hydrogen flow rate and the samples have almost amorphous structure. In contrast, at higher hydrogen flow rate, the films have Sb-rich composition and polycrystalline structure. Interestingly, transition from amorphous to polycrystalline structure is depend on the flow rate of the transport gas, while surface morphology affected by the substrate temperature. Electrical and optical measurements revealed that polycrystalline films have p-type conductivity and optical bandgap of 1.1 eV with high absorption coefficient of 105 cm−1. These results showed that the CMBD grown films can be used as absorber layer for fabrication of thin film solar cells.