Film electrodes deposited from Cu2SnSe3 source in comparison with those deposited from SnSe and Cu2ZnSnSe4 sources by thermal vacuum evaporation: Effect of argon gas flow rate

Hikmat S. Hilal's picture
Journal Title, Volume, Page: 
Electrochimica Acta, 139, 238-243
Year of Publication: 
2014
Authors: 
Nordin Sabli
Universiti Putra Malaysia
Zulkarnain Zainal
University Putra Malaysia
Wan Mahmood Mat Yunus
University Putra malaysia
Zainal Abidin Talib
Hikmat S. Hilal
An-Najah National University
Current Affiliation: 
An-Najah National University
Masatoshi Fujii
University Putra malaysia
Preferred Abstract (Original): 
Addition of argon gas, with different flow rates, to vacuum evaporation deposition of film electrodes
from Cu2SnSe3 source, affect nature and properties of the resulting films. While keeping other factors
constant, it is possible to control nature and properties of the resulting films simply by controlling the
argon gas flow rate. This work shows that films deposited from Cu2SnSe3 under high argon gas flow rate
(25 cm3/min) involved SnSe as a major compound, with low concentration of Cu dopant. The film showed
higher photoresponse than those deposited from pristine SnSe source. Under lower argon gas flow rates,
the resulting films were dominated by the ternary source compound itself, which also showed lower
photoresponse than that deposited under higher flow rate. Structure, morphology, chemical composition,
optical and photo-electrochemical characteristics have all been studied forfilms deposited from Cu2SnSe3
under different argon gas flow rates, in parallel with earlier films deposited from SnSe and Cu2ZnSnSe4.
The films deposited from Cu2SnSe3 or Cu2ZnSnSe4 under high argon gas flow rate showed a p-type
semiconductor behavior with energy gap of about 1.0 eV which confirms the existence of SnSe as a
dominant component in each case. A mechanism, which is mainly based on a model of elastic collisions,
is proposed to explain the production of SnSe films from the ternary and quaternary sources. On the other
hand,the presence of low concentrations of Cu or/and Zn species in the resulting SnSe films is presumably
responsible for enhanced photoresponse, as compared to films deposited from pristine SnSe.
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights res