SnS/CdS Thin Film Solar Cells by Ionized Jet Deposition

Tin sulfide is an excellent candidate for the mass production of solar cells as it is composed of abundant and not toxic elements. From our previous work on thermal evaporation of SnS solar cells, we now present SnS polycrystalline films by ionized jet deposition (IJD). This technology allows transferring atoms from a target of SnS to the substrate due to the generation of plasma from the target, giving enough energy to have a good crystallization of the material also at low temperature. SnS deposited by this technique show an incremented compactness, more robust thin film, which results to be less porous and more crystallized. Moreover the x-ray diffraction technique shows an improved stoichiometry with no secondary phases. Preliminary solar cells were made and indicate that IJD can be a good deposition technique for compounds with reduced congruent evaporation.