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Power effect on the properties of copper nitride films as solar absorber deposited in pure nitrogen atmosphere
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  • M.I Rodríguez-Tapiador,
  • J. Merino,
  • T. Jawhari,
  • A.L. Muñoz-Rosas,
  • J. Bertomeu,
  • S. Fernández
M.I Rodríguez-Tapiador
Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas Medioambientales y Tecnologicas

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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J. Merino
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos - Campus de Madrid
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T. Jawhari
Universitat de Barcelona Centres Cientifics i Tecnologics
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A.L. Muñoz-Rosas
Universitat de Barcelona Departament de Fisica Quantica i Astrofisica
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J. Bertomeu
Universitat de Barcelona Departament de Fisica Quantica i Astrofisica
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S. Fernández
Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas Medioambientales y Tecnologicas
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Abstract

Nowadays, the copper nitride (Cu 3N) is of great interest as a new solar absorber material, flexible and lightweight thin film solar cells. This material is a metastable semiconductor, non-toxic, composed of earth-abundant elements, and its band gap energy can be easily tunable in the range 1.4 to 1.8 eV. For this reason, it has been proposed for many applications in the solar energy conversion field. The main aim of this work is to evaluate the properties of the Cu 3N thin films fabricated by reactive radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering at different RF power values to determine its potential as light absorber. The Cu 3N films were fabricated at room temperature (RT) from a Cu metallic target at the RF power ranged from 25 to 200 W on different substrates (silicon and glass). The pure nitrogen flux was set to 20 sccm, and the working pressures were set to 3.5 Pa and 5 Pa. The XRD results showed a transition from (100) to (111) preferred orientations when RF power increased; the AFM images revealed a granular morphology, while FTIR and Raman spectra exhibited the characteristics peaks related to Cu-N bonds, which became narrower when the RF power increased. Finally, to stablish the suitability of these films as absorber, the band gap energy was calculated from transmission spectra.
08 Nov 2022Submitted to Applied Research
08 Nov 2022Submission Checks Completed
08 Nov 2022Assigned to Editor
29 Nov 2022Reviewer(s) Assigned
29 Dec 2022Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
29 Dec 2022Editorial Decision: Revise Major
18 Feb 20231st Revision Received
20 Feb 2023Submission Checks Completed
20 Feb 2023Assigned to Editor
20 Feb 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
23 Feb 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
23 Feb 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
09 Mar 20232nd Revision Received
09 Mar 2023Submission Checks Completed
09 Mar 2023Assigned to Editor
09 Mar 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
10 Mar 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
10 Mar 2023Editorial Decision: Accept