Phase selective growth of Cu12Sb4S13 and Cu3SbS4 thin films by chalcogenization of simultaneous sputtered metal precursors

• Autor(a) principal: Fernandes, P. A.
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Shongalova, A., Cunha, A.F., Teixeira, J.P., Leitão, J.P., Cunha, J.M.V., Bose, S., Salomé, P.M.P., Correia, M.R.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/17154
• topic: Sulfosalt; Thin films; RF magnetron sputtering; Chalcogenization

In this work, we present a procedure to grow Cu12Sb4S13 and Cu3SbS4 thin films consisting of the deposition of simultaneously sputtered metal precursors followed by a annealing treatment in a sulphur atmosphere. The selection of the ternary phase is performed by adjusting the sulphur evaporation temperature in the chalcogenization process. It is shown that for a sulphur evaporation temperature of 140 ∘C the predominant phase is Cu12Sb4S13 while for 180 ∘C the predominant phase is Cu3SbS4. In order to ensure precursor composition homogeneity, the Cu-Sb metallic precursors are deposited simultaneously by RF magnetron sputtering using adjustable segmented targets. The morphological characterization of the films was made by scanning electron microscopy and the composition was analysed by energy dispersive spectroscopy. The structural analysis and phase identification were performed by X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering. The optical properties were studied on films deposited directly on bare glass and the optical bandgap energies of 1.47 eV and 0.89 eV for Cu12Sb4S13 and Cu3SbS4, respectively, were determined.