Optical and Electrical Properties of Sb2(SxSe1–x)3 Films for Solar Cells

Abstract

The vacuum thermal evaporation method was used to produce Sb2(SxSe1–x)3 films from powders of precursor binary compounds, Sb2S3 and Sb2Se3, at substrate temperature 300oC. The effect of the elemental composition ratio S/(S + Se) on the optical and electrical properties of Sb2(SxSe1–x)3 films was studied. The band gap width of Sb2(SxSe1–x) films increases with an increase in the sulfur concentration. The prepared films feature low Urbach energies indicating low-defect structure. The temperature dependence of the resistance indicated the presence of deep-lying levels in the range 0.5–0.8 eV depending of the S/(S+Se) atomic concentration ratio. These results indicate the feasibility of producing effective solar cells containing Sb2(SxSb1–x)3 obtained by means of thermal evaporation of powders of Sb2S3 and Sb2Se3.