Structural, Optical and Electrical Conductivity Properties of Stannite Cu2ZnSnS4

A precursor powder was obtained from drying the solutions of a mixture of different ratios of Cu, Zn and Sn chloride and thiourea. The Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (CZTS) samples were prepared from thermal decomposition of the corresponding precursors in vacuum, and were then characterized using scanning emission microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray analysis, x-ray powder diffraction and Raman scattering. According to x-ray diffraction analysis, all the synthesized samples had a tetragonal structure of space group I 4 ¯ 2 m . The electrical properties of the CZTS samples were investigated in the temperature range of 10–325 K. The charge carrier concentration was measured to be about p = 1 × 10 16 cm −3 . A crossover from a nearest-neighbor hopping conduction mechanism at high temperatures ( T > 150 K) to a Mott variable-range hopping conduction mechanism at low temperatures ( T