Preparation of AlSb film by screen printing and sintering method

Aluminum antimonide (AlSb) is a potential absorber for high efficiency solar cells. In this work, using the commercially available micro powders of elemental Al and Sb, polycrystalline AlSb films were successfully synthesized by utilizing a simple screen printing and sintering method for the first time. The sintering parameters were optimized to be 680 ~ 760 °C for 3 h to fabricate high quality films. Structural, optical, morphological, elemental and electrical properties of the as-prepared films were systematically investigated. The as-prepared films possessed zinc blende structure of F-43 m (216) space group and their lattice parameters increased with increasing sintering temperature. Interestingly, both Brillouin scattering peaks and Raman scattering peaks were observed in the Raman spectra. Two different kinds of electron–hole recombination were detected in the Photoluminescence (PL) spectra and they were further analyzed by a multi-peaks Gaussian fitting. These results showed that the film sintered at 720 °C possessed the optimal crystallinity. This film was highly developed with nearly stoichiometric atomic ratio of 42.19: 40.42 (Al: Sb). Moreover, its conduction activation energy was estimated to be 0.06 eV. Finally, a simple reaction model of Al-Sb system was proposed to explain the reaction mechanism. AlSb phase started to form at the solid–solid reaction stage, while most of it was generated at the liquid–liquid reaction stage. The reaction rate was also greatly quickened in this stage.