CuxSbySz thin films produced by annealing chemically deposited Sb2S3-CuS thin films

The possibility of generating ternary compounds through annealing thin film stacks of binary composition has been demonstrated before. In this work we report a method to produce large area coating of ternary compounds through a reaction in solid state between thin films of Sb2S3, and CuS. Thin films of Sb2S3-CuS were deposited on glass substrates in the sequence of Sb2S3 f ollowed by CuS (on Sb2S3) using chemical bath deposition method. The multil ayer stack, thus produced, of approximately 0.5 mum fit thickness, where an nealed under nitrogen and argon atmospheres at different temperatures to pr oduce films of ternary composition, CuxSbySz. An optical band gap of simila r to1.5 eV was observed in these films, suggesting that the thin Films of t ernary composition formed in this way are suitable for use as absorber mate rials in photovoltaic devices. The results on the analyses of structural, e lectrical and optical properties of films formed with different combination s of thickness in the multilayers will be discussed in the paper.