Effect of selenization temperature on the properties of Sb2Se3 thin films and solar cells by two-step method

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics 2019-11, Vol.30 (22), p.19871-19879
• Main Authors: Li, Shubing, Shen, Honglie, Chen, Jieyi, Jiang, Yaohua, Sun, Luanhong, Raza, Adil, Xu, Yajun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antimony; Antimony compounds; Carrier density; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Cracks; Electron beams; Energy conversion efficiency; Evaporation; Grain size; Materials Science; Optical and Electronic Materials; Photovoltaic cells; Selenides; Solar cells; Thin films
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-019-02354-1

In this work, antimony selenide (Sb 2 Se 3 ) thin films were prepared using electron-beam (e-beam) evaporation followed by selenization process (two-step method) for the first time. The effect of selenization temperature on the properties of Sb 2 Se 3 thin films and solar cells was investigated systematically. Formation of pure polycrystalline Sb 2 Se 3 was confirmed and the intensity of (hk1) and (hk2) patterns was found to decrease while that of (hk0) to increase with temperature elevating. However, when the temperature became higher than 360 °C, the shape of Sb 2 Se 3 grains gradually changed to rod-like shape from round shape and some craters and cracks in the films can be observed. Sb 2 Se 3 films prepared at 360 °C showed an average grain size of 450 nm, a roughness of 42 nm, an optical bandgap of 1.24 eV and a carrier concentration of 4.99 × 10 12  cm −3 . The corresponding Sb 2 Se 3 solar cells exhibited an optimal power conversion efficiency of 1.15%. Our results demonstrated that the process of e-beam evaporation of Sb followed by selenization at appropriate temperature is a good way to prepare high quality Sb 2 Se 3 thin films for solar cells.