Current Applied Physics, Vol.20, No.3, 438-444, 2020
Influence of Ag thickness on the structural, optical, and electrical properties of the SnS/Ag/SnS trilayer films for solar cell application
We fabricated the SnS/Ag/SnS (SAS) trilayer thin films by a sputtering method at 200 degrees C. The structural, optical, and electrical properties of the films were studied by varying the Ag interlayer thickness from 9 to 27 nm. The EDS analysis revealed that all SAS trilayer films showed an increase in the atomic percentage of Ag from 1.87 to 6.18. The X-ray diffraction studies confirmed that SAS films with Ag-18 nm thickness showed a preferred (111) peak of the SnS with improved crystallinity. The optical absorption coefficient of the SAS films increased by a factor of 18 when compared to the SnS films without Ag. Also, the optical band gap decreased from 1.53 to 1.28 eV with Ag thickness. All SAS films exhibited the p-type conductivity with increased hole-concentration from 1.94 x 10(14) to 4.15 x 10(18) cm(-3) and also the mobility from 1.31 to 81.6 cm(2). V(-1)s(-1).