Structural and Optical Properties of Cu<sub>2</sub>MnSnS<sub>4</sub> Thin Film Fabricated by Sol-Gel Technique

Abstract

Cu 2 MnSnS 4 thin film was successfully prepared by a sol-gel technique on soda lime glass substrate from metal salts and thiourea. The structural and morphological properties of the fabricated film were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The combination of the X-ray diffraction results and Raman spectroscopy reveal that this obtained layer is composed by Cu 2 MnSnS 4 phase and has a stannite structure with preferential orientation along the (112) direction. The scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy results show that the synthesized thin film is smooth and compact without any visible cracks or pores. The band gap of the Cu 2 MnSnS 4 thin film is about 1.29 eV determined by the UV-vis-NIR absorption spectra measurement, which indicates it has potential applications in solar cells.