Thin film solar cell based on CuSbS2 absorber fabricated from an electrochemically deposited metal stack

Abstract Copper antimony sulfide (CuSbS 2 ) thin films were fabricated by sulfurization of an electrodeposited metallic stack composed of Cu and Sb on a Mo-coated glass (Mo/glass) substrate. A CuSbS 2 film containing appreciable impurity components was obtained when the precursor metallic stack was heated monotonically from room temperature to 450 °C in Ar followed by sulfurization. The film also showed poor adherence due to a large number of crevices; there were many appreciable pinholes over the entire surface of the film. On the other hand, a CuSbS 2 film without any impurity phases was obtained when the metallic precursor film was pretreated at 510 °C in Ar for 60 min just before sulfurization at 450 °C. It was also observed that the thus-obtained CuSbS 2 film showed good adhesion to the Mo/glass substrate and almost no notable pinholes. As expected from structural analyses, the 510 °C-pretreated film worked as a relatively efficient absorber for the thin film solar cell with an Al:ZnO/CdS/CuSbS 2 /Mo/glass structure: it gave preliminary conversion efficiency of 3.1%.