TY - JOUR
T1 - Physical properties of photoconductive Ag-Sb-S thin films prepared by thermal evaporation
AU - Medina-Montes, M. I.
AU - Baldenegro Pérez , L.A.
AU - Morales-Luna, Michael
AU - Sánchez, T.G.
AU - Santos Cruz, D.
AU - Mayén-Hernández, S. A.
AU - Santos-Cruz, J.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge José Campos Alvarez for SEM images and EDXS measurements, María Luisa Ramón for her advice on XRD analysis (IER-UNAM) and Claudia Tomasini Montenegro for her assistance in writing-review and editing. MIMM thanks the postdoctoral fellowship from CONACYT-SENER Sustentabilidad Energética.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - We used thermal evaporation and post-deposition thermal treatment to prepare photoconductive Ag-Sb-S thin films. Firstly, to obtain the Ag
2S/Sb
2S
3/substrate samples, we sequentially evaporated both Sb
2S
3 and Ag
2S precursors. Secondly, we converted the double-layered structure in Ag-Sb-S thin films through a post-annealing treatment. Finally, considering the variation in both temperature of this treatment and amount of evaporated Ag
2S, we evaluated the formation of AgSbS
2 and Ag
3SbS
3 ternary phases in the films. As a result, we identified the coexistence of cubic and monoclinic AgSbS
2 and monoclinic and hexagonal Ag
3SbS
3 phases. In addition, the evolution from metastable to stable phases of AgSbS
2 and Ag
3SbS
3 is presented. Using Raman vibrational modes at 267 cm
-1 for the monoclinic and 323 cm
-1 for the hexagonal phases and X-ray diffraction results, we identified the dominant Ag
3SbS
3 crystalline structure. Furthermore, we found that, respectively, the optical band gap, electrical conductivity and photosensitivity are in the range of 1.7–1.85 eV, 1.3 × 10
-7 to 7.4 × 10
-5 (Ω-cm)
-1 and 29 to 0.5. Consequently, the Ag-Sb-S thin films are suitable as the absorber layer in photovoltaic solar cells.
AB - We used thermal evaporation and post-deposition thermal treatment to prepare photoconductive Ag-Sb-S thin films. Firstly, to obtain the Ag
2S/Sb
2S
3/substrate samples, we sequentially evaporated both Sb
2S
3 and Ag
2S precursors. Secondly, we converted the double-layered structure in Ag-Sb-S thin films through a post-annealing treatment. Finally, considering the variation in both temperature of this treatment and amount of evaporated Ag
2S, we evaluated the formation of AgSbS
2 and Ag
3SbS
3 ternary phases in the films. As a result, we identified the coexistence of cubic and monoclinic AgSbS
2 and monoclinic and hexagonal Ag
3SbS
3 phases. In addition, the evolution from metastable to stable phases of AgSbS
2 and Ag
3SbS
3 is presented. Using Raman vibrational modes at 267 cm
-1 for the monoclinic and 323 cm
-1 for the hexagonal phases and X-ray diffraction results, we identified the dominant Ag
3SbS
3 crystalline structure. Furthermore, we found that, respectively, the optical band gap, electrical conductivity and photosensitivity are in the range of 1.7–1.85 eV, 1.3 × 10
-7 to 7.4 × 10
-5 (Ω-cm)
-1 and 29 to 0.5. Consequently, the Ag-Sb-S thin films are suitable as the absorber layer in photovoltaic solar cells.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.mssp.2021.106167
DO - 10.1016/j.mssp.2021.106167
M3 - Article
SN - 1369-8001
VL - 137
SP - 1
JO - Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing
JF - Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing
M1 - 106167
ER -