Physical characterization of thermally evaporated Sn-Sb-Se thin films for solar cell applications

The substitution of Sb in binary SnSe structure may lead to tailoring the physical properties of both SnSe and SbSe, promising absorber layers for thin film solar cells. The resulting Sn-Sb-Se structure could be an outstanding material for photovoltaic applications. In this study, Sn-Sb-Se thin films were deposited by thermal evaporation, and the effect of annealing on the films' structural, optical, and electrical properties were reported. XRD measurement shows that annealing at 300 degrees C yields the best crystalline quality, and structural parameters were calculated using XRD data. SEM and AFM measurements indicate deformation in the film surface after annealing at 400 degrees C. UV-Vis spectroscopy measurement provides a high absorption coefficient which indicates a direct band gap. The band gap and activation energies of the as-grown sample were found as 1.59 eV and 106.1 meV, respectively. The results of SEM, AFM, XRD, Raman, UV-Vis spectroscopy and temperature-dependent photoconductivity measurements were discussed throughout the paper.