Structural Characterization of RF-Sputtered CZTS Thin Films

Abstract

Polycrystalline CZTS thin films of thickness 45nm, 90nm, 140nm and 180nm have been grown on the corning glass substrate by RF-magnetron sputtering at a substrate temperature of 100^oC using a quaternary target. Structural characteristics of the grown thin films have been investigated using X-ray diffractometer (XRD). Detailed analysis of the XRD data has shown that the grown CZTS thin films have kesterite structure with preferred orientation along (112) plane which was observed to become stronger with an increase in film thickness, especially in the annealed samples. All the peaks observed in the XRD pattern have been accounted for kesterite structure, which shows the absence of additional phases such as elemental or binary or ternary systems in the grown film. The above observations show that the material under investigation is suitable for solar cell applications.