Optical, electrical and electronic properties of SnS thin films deposited by sol gel spin coating technique for photovoltaic applications

In the current study, thin films of tin sulfide (SnS) were grown by sol–gel spin-coating technique deposited on glass substrates. The obtained thin films were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL) and UV–Vis spectrometer and the four point technique, respectively. The effect of annealing temperature on the SnS properties has been studied. The XRD results reveal that the films annealed at 500 °C have good crystalline quality with orthorhombic phase. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra shows the Sn–S bond. The photoluminescence spectra showed two categories of band emission. The optical parameters ( α , ε , n , k , E g , and σ op ) were determined using UV–Vis spectroscopy. Moreover, the obtained results were compared to the theatricals results obtained with density functional theory (DFT) method using ab-initio approach. The optical and the electrical properties of the SnS Layers annealed at 400 °C and 500 °C offer the best possibility for their utilization in photovoltaic applications.