THE EFFECT OF PRECURSOR SYNTHESIS TEMPERATURE ON SOL-GEL CZTS SPIN-COATED THIN FILMS PROPERTIES

Ramadan ALITI, Yoganash PUTTHISIGAMANY, Mohd SUKOR SU’AIT, Azizan Bin AHMAD, Kazi Sajedur RAHMAN, Puvaneswaran CHELVANATHAN, Mimoza RISTOVA

Abstract

The non-vacuum sol-gel method for synthesizing CZTS thin films has proven to be a simple, cost-effective, and highly efficient approach that can be utilized across a wide range of temperatures. In this study, our focus was on synthesizing CZTS at room temperature (RT) and 1500C, with the chemical reagents sequentially mixed at 30-minute intervals. The spin coating process was employed to deposit the solutions onto Na-free substrate glasses to obtain thin films. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns demonstrate the formation of CZTS crystallinity, exhibiting variations in crystallite size and grain morphology, which were further confirmed by SEM images. Comparing the CZTS thin films synthesized at RT and 1500C, it was observed that the RT samples exhibited larger grain size, smaller crystal size, improved crystallinity, and a greater amount of surface cracking. Raman spectroscopy analysis confirmed the presence of CZTS Raman spectra, with well-defined main peaks observed at 335.3 cm-1 and 327.6 cm-1 for RT and 1500C, respectively. These findings underscore the significance of precursor synthesis temperature in sol-gel CZTS spin-coated thin films, and suggest that further in-depth analysis of this parameter is warranted for future investigations.

Pages: 39 - 46