Pulsed laser deposition and characterization of epitaxial CuInS₂ thin films on c-plane sapphire substrates

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• 作者：Xunzhong Shang ; Jingang Fang ; Lei Zhang ; Mingkai Li ; Gang Chang ; Pai Li ; Yunbin He ; ^{ybhe@hubu.edu.cn} ; ^{heyunbin@hotmail.com}
• 关键词：CuInS2 ; Epitaxial growth ; Thin film ; Pulsed laser deposition
• 刊名：Journal of Alloys and Compounds
• 出版年：2013
• 出版时间：15 March, 2013
• 年：2013
• 卷：553
• 期：Complete
• 页码：282-285
• 全文大小：755 K

文摘

The epitaxial growth of CuInS₂ thin films on single-crystal sapphire (0 0 0 1) substrates was first attempted by using pulsed laser deposition. A highly dense CuInS₂ ceramic target with chalcopyrite structure was prepared by sintering high-purity (5N) powders in vacuum at 960 ¡ãC for an hour. CuInS₂ thin films deposited at various temperatures all grew in a (1 1 2) preferred orientation, suggesting a three-dimensional island-like growth mechanism. When deposited at 700 ¡ãC, epitaxial growth of CuInS₂ films on c-plane sapphire was achieved with an out-of-plane orientation of CuInS₂ (1 1 2)|| sapphire (0 0 0 1) and in-plane orientation of CuInS₂ . A typical rocking curve half width of 0.17¡ã demonstrates a high degree of crystallinity as well as excellent alignment of the CuInS₂ films along [2 2 1], whereas in-plane two domains rotated by 180¡ã with respect to each other are found coexisting in the epilayers. High-quality epitaxial thin films will allow further research into the fundamental properties of CuInS₂ absorber layers, which will eventually help to improve conversion efficiencies of CuInS₂-based solar cells.