Boosting the kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 solar cells performance by diode laser annealing

In this work, a novel diode laser annealing was performed as a post-sulfurization heat treatment on pure-sulfide Cu2ZnSnS4 thin film solar cells fabricated by sputtering deposition. The effect on both film quality and device performance after annealing at various laser doses was investigated. After receiving an ultra-fast laser scan treatment, the crystallinity of the CZTS film can be improved and the Cu/Zn disordering is reduced. The power conversion efficiency of the laser annealed device was boosted to 7.33%, compared with the reference cell efficiency of 6.72%. The major increase in the short circuit current is driving force of such improvement, from 18 mA/cm2 to 19.31 mA/cm2 after laser treatment. These results indicate that the quality of CZTS thin films and the device performance can be effectively improved by the diode laser annealing.