Chemical deposition of antimony sulfide & silver antimony sulfide

The following photographs show the first 30 minutes of the solution reaction for chemical deposition of antimony sulfide thin films. This material is a p-type semiconductor. It is deposited as an amorphous source (Sb-S). The films have the necessary content to produce an orthorhombic lattice after heating above 250 ºC.

Application

Antimony sulfide is used for the research of thin-film solar cells with the following configuration TCO/CdS/Absorber/BackContact.  This film is achieved using the formula reported in the paper I publish during my Ph.D. program (With no AgNO3).  Find it here.

For tips about deposition, feel free to write a comment!

[1] J. Capistrán Martínez, P.K. Nair, Photoconductive thin films of AgSbS2 with cubic crystalline structure in solar cells, Physica Status Solidi (a). 212 (2015) 2869–2876. doi:10.1002/pssa.201532496.

Initial deposition condition temperature near 10 ºC

The reaction of the Sb-S solution begins after 10 minutes. 

The color of the reaction change completely at 30 minutes, this color will be maintained until the controlled precipitation finish. 

After 3-4 hours of deposition, the films look good, there is adherence to the glass substrate and specular reflection in the surface.