Spray Chemical Vapor Deposition of CuInS 2 Thin Films for Application in Solar Cell Devices

Chalcopyrite CuInS 2 is a direct band gap semiconductor (1.5 eV) that has potential applications in photovoltaic thin film and photoelectrochemical devices. We have successfully employed spray chemical vapor deposition using the previously known, single-source, metalorganic precursor, (Ph 3 P) 2 CuIn(SEt) 4 , to deposit CuInS 2 thin films. Stoichiometric, polycrystalline films were deposited onto fused silica over a range of temperatures (300–400 °C). Morphology was observed to vary with temperature: spheroidal features were obtained at lower temperatures and angular features at 400 °C. At even higher temperatures (500 °C), a Cu-deficient phase, CuIn 5 S 8 , was obtained as a single phase. The CuInS 2 films were determined to have a direct band gap of ca. 1.4 eV.