ALD of phase controlled tin monosulfide thin films

Tin monosulfide (SnS) is a promising semiconductor material for low-cost conversion of solar energy, playing the role of absorber layer in photovoltaic devices. SnS is, due to its high optical damping, also an excellent semiconductor candidate for the realization of ultrathin (nanoscale thickness) plasmonic solar cells [1]. Here, we present an important step to further control and understand SnS film properties produced using low temperature ALD with Sn(acac)2 and H2S as precursors. We show that the SnS film properties vary over a rather wide range depending on substrate temperature and reaction conditions, and that this is connected to the growth of cubic (π-SnS) and orthorhombic SnS phases. The optical properties of the two polymorphs differ significantly, as demonstrated by spectroscopic ellipsometry [2]. 1. C. Hägglund, G. Zeltzer, R. Ruiz, A. Wangperawong, K. E. Roelofs, S. F. Bent, ACS Photonics 3 (3) (2016) 456–463. 2. O. V. Bilousov, Y. Ren, T. Törndahl, O. Donzel-Gargand , T. Ericson, C. Platzer-Björkman, M. Edoff, and C. Hägglund, ACS Chemistry of Materials 29 (7) (2017) 2969–2978. Ultrathin nanocomposite absorbers and heterojunctions for solar cells