Investigation of b-In S growth on different transparent 2 3 conductive oxides

Thin films of b-In2S3, obtained by physical vapor deposition process followed by a post-annealing, are studied on bare glass substrates and those coated with SnO2, In2O3and ZnO transparent conductive oxides TCOs.. These films have an optical band gap of about 2.8 eV, good covering efficiency, and n-type conductivity, making them good candidates for buffer layer in CuInSe2 solar cells. The structural, optical and morphological properties of these bilayers have been studied with X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy depth profiling, and optical transmission. All results show that our method of synthesis allows us to grow b-In2S3 films on glass and TCO-coated glass coated substrates. Moreover, these films are exempt from pinholes, cracks, or other morphological defaults even for very small thickness. q2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.