Growth, structural and optical properties of non-stoichiometric CuIn(S1-xSex)2 thin films deposited by solution growth technique for photovoltaic application

Polycrystalline thin films of p-CuIn(S1-xSex)(2) have been deposited by a solution growth technique. The deposition parameters such as pH, temperature and time have been optimized. In order to achieve uniformity of thin film, triethanolamine (TEA) has been used. As deposited films have been annealed at 450 degrees C in air for 5 min. The surface morphology, compositional ratio, structural properties have been studied by SEM, EDAX and XRD technique, respectively. It has been found that films have chalcopyrite structure with the lattice parameters a = 5.28 angstrom and c = 11.45 angstrom at composition x=0.5. The grain size of all composition x measured from SEM and XRD is varied in between 450 and 520 nm. The optical transmittance spectra have been recorded in the range 350-1000 nm. The absorption coefficient has been calculated at the absorption edge for each of the composition x and it is in the range of 10(4) cm(-1). The material shows the direct allowed band gap, which varies from 1.07 to 1.44 eV with change in composition (0 <= x <= 1.0). These parameters are useful for the photovoltaic application. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.