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arXiv · 2107.05280

n-type electrical conduction in SnS thin films

Issei Suzuki·Sakiko Kawanishi·Sage R. Bauers·Andriy Zakutayev·Zexin Lin·Satoshi Tsukuda·Hiroyuki Shibata·Minseok Kim·Hiroshi Yanagi·Takahisa Omata
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Abstract

Tin monosulfide (SnS) usually exhibits p-type conduction due to the low formation enthalpy of acceptor-type defects, and as a result n-type SnS thin films have never been obtained. This study realizes n-type conduction in SnS thin films for the first time by using RF-magnetron sputtering with Cl doping and sulfur plasma source during deposition. N-type SnS thin films are obtained at all the substrate temperatures employed in this study (221-341 C), exhibiting carrier concentrations and Hall mobilities of ~2 x 10 18 cm-3 and 0.1-1 cm V-1s-1, respectively. The films prepared without sulfur plasma source, on the other hand, exhibit p-type conduction despite containing a comparable amount of Cl donors. This is likely due to a significant amount of acceptor-type defects originating from sulfur deficiency in p-type films, which appears as a broad optical absorption within the band gap. The demonstration of n-type SnS thin films in this study is a breakthrough for the realization of SnS homojunction solar cells, which are expected to have a higher conversion efficiency than the conventional heterojunction SnS solar cells.

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Issei Suzuki, Sakiko Kawanishi, Sage R. Bauers, Andriy Zakutayev, Zexin Lin, Satoshi Tsukuda, Hiroyuki Shibata, Minseok Kim, Hiroshi Yanagi, Takahisa Omata. 2021-12-22. n-type electrical conduction in SnS thin films. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevmaterials.5.125405

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