Effect of antimony concentration on optical, electrical and structural  properties of copper antimony sulphide thin films deposited by spray pyrolysis technique

Obare, Nancy; Odari, Victor; Mageto, Maxwel

doi:10.47176/ijpr.22.3.71283

Effect of antimony concentration on optical, electrical and structural properties of copper antimony sulphide thin films deposited by spray pyrolysis technique

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Nancy Obare ¹

Victor Odari ¹

Maxwel Mageto ²

¹ Department of Physics, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, P.O Box 190-50100, Kakamega, Kenya

² Department of Physics, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, P.O Box 190-50100, Kakamega, Kenya. Materials Research Society of Kenya, P.O. Box 15653-00503 Nairobi, Kenya.

https://doi.org/10.47176/ijpr.22.3.71283

Abstract

Copper antimony sulphide (CuSbS₂) is a semiconductor with narrow band gap and a potential absorber material for applications in various optoelectronic devices like infrared detectors and solar cells. In this paper, CuSbS₂ thin films were deposited by spray pyrolysis technique on glass substrates at a temperature of 3000 ℃, using cupric chloride, antimony chloride, and thiourea as precursors. The samples were prepared by varying the antimony concentration (0.1M, 0.15M, and 0.2M) at a pressure of 3.5 bar and a solution flow rate of 2 ml/min for 5 minutes, while the precursor solutions of Cu:S molar ratio (0.1:0.2) was maintained. Elemental, morphological, optical, and structural characterization of these films was done from data obtained from energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF), UV-VIS spectrophotometer, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) respectively. The prepared thin films were polycrystalline with a preferential peak at (111). Electrical properties of the thin films were obtained by simulating the UV-VIS spectra in SCOUT software using the Drude and Kim oscillator model. Deposited films have a band gap range of 1.84 – 1.98 eV, conductivity range of 199.59 – 204.67 Ω^-1cm^-1, and carrier concentration range of 1.12×10¹⁹ - 1.27×10¹⁹ cm^-3.

Keywords

spray pyrolysis

thin films

CuSbS2

antimony cocemtration

SCOUT

20.1001.1.16826957.1401.22.3.5.9

Subjects

Thin Films

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