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ARTICLE

Preparation and characterization of CuAl_XSn_1-XS₂ thin films prepared by electron beam deposition system

A. S. Alqarni^a,, S. N. Alamri^b,

a Department of Physics, College of Science, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia
b Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia

* Corresponding Author:

Chalcogenide Letters 2025, 22(5), 493-506. https://doi.org/10.15251/CL.2025.225.493

Received 08 February 2025; Accepted 27 May 2025;

Abstract

Abundant and environmentally friendly solar cells materials Cu₂AlSnS₄ (CATS) thin film successively prepared by electron beam deposition system. The impact of various deposition times and post-annealing at 450 °C under nitrogen gas atmosphere on the structures, morphologies, and spectroscopic characteristics of the obtained CATS films were investigated. Both deposition time variation and annealing process were found to significantly affect the crystallinity, bonding vibration, surface morphology, energy band gaps, and Urbach energy of the CATS films. EDX spectra of the films disclosed the existence of all constituents’ elements. XRD analysis of the post-annealed films verified their multiple phases with varying crystallite sizes. Raman spectral data of these films agreed with the XRD analysis. AFM and SEM images of the films revealed the growth of hemi-spherical crystallites on their surface. The band gap energy of these as deposited and annealed films was correspondingly varied from 1.26 - 1.59 eV and 1.14 - 0.94 eV. The proposed CATS films are asserted to be promising for the advancement of novel solar cell materials.

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