Chemical bath deposition of CuxS thin films and their prospective large area applications

Abstract

Cu_xS thin films with a wide range of sheet resistances (r_{Square Operator} ) and optical transmittance (T%), indicating different composition x, have been obtained from chemical baths constituted from copper(II) chloride, triethanolamine and thiourea at appropriate pH (10-12). Depending on the deposition parameters, a range of combination of r_{Square Operator} approximately=30 Omega to 1 M Omega and T% (500 nm) approximately=1 to 65 and a range of colour of reflected daylight (golden yellow, purple, blue, green, etc.) can be obtained. The films have been found to be stable with respect to electrical and optical properties on storage under ambient. Various possible large area applications such as in architectural glazing, photothermal and photovoltaic conversions are discussed.