Fabrication and characterization of In 2 S 3 thin films deposited by thermal evaporation technique

Indium sulphide, In2S3, thin films present an alternative to conventional CdS films as buffer layer for CIS-based thin film solar cells. The objective is to eliminate toxic cadmium for environmental reasons. Indium sulphide is synthesized and deposited by single source vacuum thermal evaporation method on glass substrates. The films are analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and spectrophotometric measurements. They have a good crystallinity, homogeneity and adhesion. The X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the initial amorphous nature of the deposited InS film and phase transition into crystalline In2S3 formed upon annealing at free air for 250 8C substrate temperature for 2 h. The optical constants of the deposited films were obtained from the analysis of the experimental recorded transmission and reflectance spectral data over the wavelength range of 300–1800 nm. We note that the films annealed at 250 8C for 2 h show a good homogeneity with 80% transmission. An analysis of the optical absorption data of the deposited films revealed an optical direct band gap energy in the range of 2.0–2.2 eV. D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.