Journal article
Relating Deposition Conditions to Zn(S,O,OH) Thin Film Properties for Photovoltaic Buffer Layers Using a Continuous Flow Microreactor
Chemistry of materials, v 26(23), pp 6674-6683
09 Dec 2014
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Chemical bath deposition (CBD) is commonly used to deposit ZnS thin films as buffer layers in thin film solar cells, but oxygen is often incorporated into the film as oxide and hydroxide to form Zn(S,O,OH). Efforts to understand the gradation of the film stoichiometry and properties are limited by film thicknesses of similar to 50 nm that are smaller than the probe size of many characterization techniques. We use a continuous flow microreactor (CF mu R) to investigate relationships between bath composition and film properties by transposing through-plane gradients over similar to 50 nm into lateral gradients over centimeters. Zn(S,O,OH) films were deposited on glass, Cu-2(Zn, Sn)(S,Se)(4), and CdSe using thiourea (TU) and thioacetamide (TAA) sulfur sources. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) shows increasing S/(S+O) with distance for TU films and the opposite trend for TAA films, spanning a range of 0.420.59 on a single substrate. Films on glass comprise highly monodispersed nodules, revealing separate nucleation and growth regimes. Experimental bath sulfide concentration and pH data were incorporated into speciation models, which showed that Zn(OH)(2) governs nucleation, whereas ZnS promotes growth. The CF mu R provides unique insight into CBD of Zn(S,O,OH) thin film deposition for optimal control of film morphology and stoichiometry for photovoltaic buffer layers.
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Details
- Title
- Relating Deposition Conditions to Zn(S,O,OH) Thin Film Properties for Photovoltaic Buffer Layers Using a Continuous Flow Microreactor
- Creators
- Borirak Opasanont - Drexel UniversityAustin G. Kuba - Drexel UniversityEvan G. Louderback - Drexel UniversityKaushik Roy Choudhury - DuPont Central ResearchJason B. Baxter - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Chemistry of materials, v 26(23), pp 6674-6683
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society; Washington, DC
- Number of pages
- 10
- Grant note
- CMMI-1000111 / National Science Foundation (NSF) 1000111 / Directorate For Engineering; National Science Foundation (NSF); NSF - Directorate for Engineering (ENG)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000346326300003
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84916600567
- Other Identifier
- 991019168564504721
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- Collaboration types
- Industry collaboration
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Chemistry, Physical
- Materials Science, Multidisciplinary