Effect of sputtering power on structural and optical properties of radio frequency-sputtered In2S3 thin films

In this study, we investigated the structural and optical properties of indium sulfide (In2S3) thin films as a substitute for the CdS buffer layer in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells. The In2S3 films were deposited on glass substrates using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. The sputtering power was changed from 60 to 120 W in 20 W increments. The effects of sputtering power on the crystallinity, surface morphology, and optical properties of the films were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and UV-visible spectrophotometry. The XRD analyses indicated that the films were polycrystalline β-In2S3 structures with two preferred orientations along the (103) and (206) directions. The AFM images revealed that the films had nanosized grains and that the size increased from 7 nm for the samples prepared at 60 W to 13 nm for those prepared at 120 W. The optical band gap of the samples was found to vary between 2.88 and 2.43 eV.