Temperature effect on the growth of In₂S₃ by thermal evaporation technique

Photovoltaic and semiconductor materials laboratory, National Engineering School of Tunis, Belvedere, PO Box 37, 1002 Tunis, Tunisia

Corresponding author: timoumiabdelmajid@yahoo.fr

Received: 20 June 2005
Revised: 16 September 2005
Accepted: 29 September 2005
Published online: 26 January 2006

Abstract

The vacuum thermal evaporation technique (VTET) allows the deposition of highly homogeneous thin films with excellent step coverage. This method has already shows promising results for the deposition of indium sulphide at different substrate temperature between 453 and 513 K. Indium sulphide thin films have been synthesised and deposited by vacuum thermal evaporation technique. Experimental parameters have been adjusted in order to obtain a high band gap and low absorption material at low deposition temperature, as required for photovoltaic applications. The structural, morphological and optical properties were characterised by X-ray diffraction analysis, Surface Electron Microscopy and spectrophotometry. The VTET-In₂S₃ thin films are homogeneous and crystallised at 513 K with direct band gap values of about 2 eV.