A thin Cu interlayer-mediated control of phase evolution of Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films grown by RF magnetron sputtering of a single elementary target with high white light sensitivity

Abstract Although sputter deposition from a single target to prepare Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin films appears attractive, it must suppress the growth of secondary phases that detrimentally affect performance of CZTS based thin film solar cells. Here we demonstrate a rational strategy for deposition of phase pure kesterite CZTS films by RF magnetron sputtering using a single target prepared from elemental powders via a thin Cu interlayer-mediated control of phase evolution. The films grown from a target of stoichiometric elemental proportion were Cu poor that determined the reaction pathway during sulfurization and resulted in growth of spurious phases despite a large variation in the sulfurization configuration. Inserting a 195 nm thick Cu interlayer between successively sputtered precursor layers provided improved compositional stability through thermally activated diffusion of Cu from the intermediate layer towards both the sides and resulted in the formation of kesterite CZTS even at a modest sulfurization temperature of 500 °C. The obtained phase-pure films have a bandgap of ∼1.58 eV. The films show excellent photoresponse behavior characterized by increase in current by three orders of magnitude at a bias of 3 V upon white light illumination, typically that required for a potential absorber layer in thin film solar cells.