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H. Rashid1, K.S. Rahman1, M.I. Hossain3, F.H. Alharbi3,4, N. Tabet3,4, M.A. Islam5 and N. Amin1,2*
1
Department of Electrical, Electronic and Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Built Environment, The
National University of Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
2
Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), The National University of Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
3
Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar
4
College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar
5
Graduate School of Material Science, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Ikoma, Nara 630-0101, Japan
*Corresponding author: nowshad@ukm.edu.my
ABSTRACT: Thin films of MoS2 were prepared on top of soda lime glass by using RF magnetron sputtering
technique and further sulfurized under different timing profiles with static gas pressure of Nitrogen in growth
chamber set at 370 torr at room temperature (RT). Four different time intervals i.e. 60 min, 90 min, 120 min and 150
min were considered at 597 °Ϲ. The effects of this parameter change were studied on absorber layer properties for
photovoltaic solar cell applications. The structural, topographical and morphological properties as well as cross
sectional thickness of MoS2 layers were analysed. MoS2 films were grown at RT at 100W RF power by sputtering.
As-deposited films exhibited two XRD peaks corresponding to (100) HEX and (110) HEX planes at 2θ = 33.4° and 59.5°
respectively, whereas post-deposition treatment (sulfurization) revealed four diffraction peaks corresponding to
(002)HEX, (100)HEX, (103)HEX and (110) HEX at 14.3°, 33.7°, 39.9° and 59.4° respectively. Thickness of sulfurized
films was measured within the range of 446.6 nm to 595.5 nm during FESEM while as-deposited film was measured
419.5 nm and surface was observed to be rough for films sulfurized for 60 min and 90 min. EDX results showed
S/Mo ratio as 3.01 for films sulfurized for 120 minutes whereas as-deposited film was with 2.44 ratio. Film
morphology was found to be very smooth with a low average surface roughness value of 0.98 nm for films sulfurized
for 150 min. Enriched ratio of S/Mo, XRD peaks validation and surface morphological results encouraged its
potential suitability for the use of MoS2 as absorber layer material for solar photovoltaic applications.
Keywords: MoS2 thin films, RF Sputtering, Absorber Layer, FESEM, XRD, AFM, Sulfurization.
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Parameters Conditions
Base Pressure (Torr) 4.2E-6
Operating Pressure (Torr) 2.4E-2
Deposition Temperature (°Ϲ) RT
Deposition Time (min) 60
Deposition Power: RF (W) 100
Argon Gas Flow Rate (SCCM) 3.5
Figure 1: XRD patterns for MoS2 films sulfurized at
Subsequently, the sulfurization processes were various processing times
performed in the presence of pure N2 gas (99.99%) in the
chamber with working pressure set at 370 torr. Summary 3.2 Surface Topology Analysis
of sulfurization process parameters is shown in Table II. The AFM analysis was performed to calculate
average surface roughness and RMS roughness data.
Table II: Summary of sulfurization parameters
Parameters Conditions
Base Pressure (Torr) 0.11
Operating Pressure (Torr) 370
Temperature (°Ϲ) 580
Ramp Rate (°Ϲ/min) 15
Background Gas N2
Sulfur (mg) 250
Sulfurization Time (min) 60, 90, 120, 150
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33rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition
The average surface roughness was observed to be in The surface of films was observed to be rough and
the range of 6 nm to 9 nm with an increasing trend as a „nano-flower‟ like structure was noticed. The thickness
function of sulfurization time. As sputtered films have was observed to be 487.5 nm for as-sputtered film and
RMS roughness value of 8.02 nm whereas the highest 542.1 nm, 524.8 nm, 465.20 nm and 596.70 nm for
value was observed for films sulfurized for 150 min. The sulfurization time of 60, 90, 120 and 150 min
obtained topological images are shown in Fig. 2. The respectively. No particular trend was observed in MoS2
summary of measured values of roughness is presented in films evolution with respect to processing time of
Table III. sulfurization.
Table III: Summary of parameters of MoS2 thin films 3.4 Compositional Analysis
The compositional ratio of Mo and S was calculated
Sulfurization Ava. Roughness RMS Roughness by EDX for sulfurized and as-sputtered thin films of
Process Time (Sa) – nm (Sq) - nm MoS2, the normalized values are summerized in Table
IV.
As-Sputtered 6.4443 8.0289
It can be seen that S/Mo ratio has an increasing trend
60 min 6.7637 8.5360
with sulfurization processing time. However, the ratio
90 min 6.8632 9.1434
was found to be increasing only till 120 min of
120 min 7.7396 10.7500
sulfurization, afterwards its decreasing drastically. This
150 min 9.0012 12.7370
could be due to more sulfurization time, causing S
elimination. In general, all the films found non-
3.3 Morphological Analysis
stoichiometric with S/Mo ratio of x: 1, where x is more
Fig. 3 is signifying FESEM images (surface and
than 2 in number.
cross-section) of as-sputtered and sulfurized films of
MoS2 with different process times.
Sulfurization Normalized Ratio
Process Time Mo S S/Mo
As-Sputtered 29.11 70.89 2.44
60 min 28.56 71.44 2.50
90 min 26.62 73.38 2.76
120 min 24.95 75.05 3.01
150 min 29.20 70.80 2.43
4 CONCLUSION
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6 REFERENCES
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