Strategic improvement of Cu₂SnS₃ thin film by different heating rates and photoluminescence investigation

Cu₂SnS₃ (CTS) thin films have been synthesized on molybdenum-coated soda lime glass substrates by sulfurization the Cu-Sn alloy precursors grown by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering technique. Strategic improvement has been carried out on the composition, structural, morphological and optical properties of CTS thin films sulfurized by rapid heating rate and slow heating rate. The annealing heating rate can adjust the ratio of Cu/Sn, improve the crystallinity and surface morphology. The ratio of Cu/Sn is close to the stoichiometric composition of CTS under slow heating rate with more loss of Sn. Structural characterization exhibits the CTS thin film sulfurized by slow heating rate has a better crystallinity without secondary phase. The CTS thin film obtained at slow heating rate presents a larger average grain size and smooth surface. The optical band gap of CTS thin films is at the vicinity of 0.87 eV. Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy has been used to study the carrier recombination mechanism and the electronic structure of CTS thin film by excitation power and temperature dependent measurements. The peak observed from PL spectra of CTS thin film conforms to the donor-acceptor pair recombination luminescence.