Fabrication of Cu2ZnSnS4 Thin Films Based on Facile Nanocrystals-Printing Approach with Rapid Thermal Annealing (RTA) Process

Abstract

In the current study, Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin film was successfully fabricated by the facile nanocrystals (NCs)-printing approach combined with rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. Firstly, the CZTS NCs were synthesized by a thermal solution method and the possible formation mechanism was analyzed briefly. Then the influences of RTA toleration temperature and duration time on the various properties of as-printed thin films were examined via XRD, Raman, FE-SEM, UV-vis-IR spectroscopy, EDS and XPS treatments in detail. As observed, the RTA factors of temperature and time had significant impacts on the structure and morphology of as-prepared thin films, while there were no obvious effects on the band gap energy in studied conditions. The results showed that the obtained thin film at optimal RTA conditions of (600 °C, 20 min) featured a kesterite structure in pure phase and an irregular morphology consisting of large grains. Moreover, the satisfactory composition of a Cu-poor, Zn-rich state and an ideal band gap energy of 1.4 eV suggests that as-fabricated CZTS thin film is a suitable light-absorbing layer candidate for the application in thin film solar cells.