TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact on Structural, Morphological, and compositional properties of CZTS thin films annealed in different environments
AU - Jain, Shefali
AU - Kumar Swami, Sanjay
AU - Dutta, Viresh
AU - Narain Sharma, Shailesh
N1 - Funding Information:
We want to acknowledge the Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi, India for the encouragement to perform good research work and grateful for their financial assistant in carrying out this work (DST/WOS-A/PM-1019/2014). S.K.S is also thankful to DST, New Delhi, India for support through the DST-Inspire Faculty award [DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/002272].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/11/1
Y1 - 2021/11/1
N2 - The present study focuses on the impacts of annealing temperature in different ambiances on the morphological behavior and thin-film quality of CZTS nanoparticles. CZTS nanoparticles have been synthesized via the hot-injection colloidal route method. CZTS nanoparticles have been annealed in air, vacuum atmosphere, and sulphur environment (N2 + H2S(5%), respectively at 450 °C for 30 min. The structural, morphological, compositional, and optical properties of all CZTS thin films were analyzed. The volume fraction is increased in the vacuum annealed thin film keeping crystallite size as same as in the as-deposited film. This results in a reduction of cracks and voids and thus the surface defects of the vacuum annealed thin film as confirmed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). AFM also confirms the improved quality of CZTS thin film annealed in a vacuum. PL curves also confirm the minimum defects in the case of vacuum-annealed thin films. Thus, the study reveals that the best quality CZTS thin films i.e. films with the least pinholes, cracks, and voids without any significant change from the initial conditions can be obtained after annealing in the vacuum environment.
AB - The present study focuses on the impacts of annealing temperature in different ambiances on the morphological behavior and thin-film quality of CZTS nanoparticles. CZTS nanoparticles have been synthesized via the hot-injection colloidal route method. CZTS nanoparticles have been annealed in air, vacuum atmosphere, and sulphur environment (N2 + H2S(5%), respectively at 450 °C for 30 min. The structural, morphological, compositional, and optical properties of all CZTS thin films were analyzed. The volume fraction is increased in the vacuum annealed thin film keeping crystallite size as same as in the as-deposited film. This results in a reduction of cracks and voids and thus the surface defects of the vacuum annealed thin film as confirmed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). AFM also confirms the improved quality of CZTS thin film annealed in a vacuum. PL curves also confirm the minimum defects in the case of vacuum-annealed thin films. Thus, the study reveals that the best quality CZTS thin films i.e. films with the least pinholes, cracks, and voids without any significant change from the initial conditions can be obtained after annealing in the vacuum environment.
KW - Annealing Environments
KW - CZTS
KW - Compositional
KW - Morphological
KW - Structural
KW - Thin Films
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85115266001&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.inoche.2021.108879
DO - 10.1016/j.inoche.2021.108879
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85115266001
SN - 1387-7003
VL - 133
JO - Inorganic Chemistry Communication
JF - Inorganic Chemistry Communication
M1 - 108879
ER -