Heteroepitaxial growth of Cu2ZnSnS4 thin film on sapphire substrate by radio frequency magnetron sputtering

Abstract

The heteroepitaxy of tetragonal Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin films on hexagonal sapphire (0001) single crystal substrates is successfully obtained by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The sputtered CZTS film has a mirror-like smooth surface with a root mean square roughness of about 5.44 nm. X-ray θ-2θ scans confirm that CZTS film is (112) oriented on sapphire with an out of plane arrangement of CZTS (112) ‖ sapphire (0001). X-ray Phi scan further illustrates an in plane ordering of CZTS [201¯] ‖ sapphire [21¯1¯0]. The high resolution transmission electron microscopy image of the interface region clearly shows that the CZTS thin film epitaxially grows on the sapphire (0001) substrate. The band gap of the film is found to be approximately 1.51 eV.