Fostering Charge Carrier Transport and Absorber Growth Properties in CZTSSe Thin Films with an ALD-SnO Capping Layer

The present study demonstrates that precursor passivation is an effective approach for improving the crystallization process and controlling the detrimental defect density in high-efficiency CuZnSn(S,Se) (CZTSSe) thin films. It is achieved by applying the atomic layer deposition (ALD) of the tin oxide (ALD-SnO) capping layer onto the precursor (Cu-Zn-Sn) thin films. The ALD-SnO capping layer was observed to facilitate the homogeneous growth of crystalline grains and mitigate defects prior to sulfo-selenization in CZTSSe thin films. Particularly, the Cu and Sn defects and deep defects associated with Sn were effectively mitigated due to the reduction of Sn and the increase in Sn levels in the kesterite CZTSSe film after introducing ALD-SnO on the precursor films. Subsequently, devices integrating the ALD-SnO layer exhibited significantly reduced recombination and efficient charge transport at the heterojunction interface and within the bulk CZTSSe absorber bulk properties. Finally, the CZTSSe device showed improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) from 8.46% to 10.1%. The incorporation of ALD-SnO revealed reduced defect sites, grain boundaries, and surface roughness, improving the performance. This study offers a systematic examination of the correlation between the incorporation of the ALD-SnO layer and the improved PCE of CZTSSe thin film solar cells (TFSCs), in addition to innovative approaches for improving absorber quality and defect control to advance the performance of kesterite CZTSSe devices.