Effect of RF Power on the Properties of Sputtered-CuS Thin Films for Photovoltaic Applications

Copper sulfide (CuS) thin films were deposited on a glass substrate at room temperature using the radio-frequency (RF) magnetron-sputtering method at RF powers in the range of 40–100 W, and the structural and optical properties of the CuS thin film were investigated. The CuS thin films fabricated at varying deposition powers all exhibited hexagonal crystalline structures and preferred growth orientation of the (110) plane. Raman spectra revealed a primary sharp and intense peak at the 474 cm −1 frequency, and a relatively wide peak was found at 265 cm −1 frequency. In the CuS thin film deposited at an RF power of 40 W, relatively small dense particles with small void spacing formed a smooth thin-film surface. As the power increased, it was observed that grain size and grain-boundary spacing increased in order. The binding energy peaks of Cu 2p 3/2 and Cu 2p 1/2 were observed at 932.1 and 952.0 eV, respectively. Regardless of deposition power, the difference in the Cu 2+ state binding energies for all the CuS thin films was equivalent at 19.9 eV. We observed the binding energy peaks of S 2p 3/2 and S 2p 1/2 corresponding to the S 2− state at 162.2 and 163.2 eV, respectively. The transmittance and band-gap energy in the visible spectral range showed decreasing trends as deposition power increased. For the CuS/tin sulfide (SnS) absorber-layer-based solar cell (glass/Mo/absorber(CuS/SnS)/cadmium sulfide (CdS)/intrinsic zinc oxide (i-ZnO)/indium tin oxide (ITO)/aluminum (Al)) with a stacked structure of SnS thin films on top of the CuS layer deposited at 100 W RF power, an open-circuit voltage (V oc ) of 115 mA, short circuit current density (J sc ) of 9.81 mA/cm 2 , fill factor (FF) of 35%, and highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 0.39% were recorded.