Structural, electrical and optical properties of AgInS2 thin films grown by thermal evaporation method

Structural electrical and optical properties of AgInS2 (AIS) thin films grown by the single-source thermal evaporation method were studied. The Xray diffraction spectra indicated that the AIS single phase was successful grown by annealing above 400 C in air. The AIS grain sizes became large with increasing the annealing temperatures. All polycrystalline AIS thin films were sulfur-poor from the electron probe microanalysis and indicated n-type conduction by the Van der Pauw technique. It was deduced that the sulfur vacancies were dominant in the films and enhanced n-type conduction. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.