The band gap of Cu2ZnSnSe4: Effect of order-disorder

The order-disorder transition in kesterite Cu2ZnSnSe4 (CZTSe), an interesting material for solar cell, has been investigated by spectrophotometry, photoluminescence (PL), and Raman spectroscopy. Like Cu2ZnSnS4, CZTSe is prone to disorder by Cu-Zn exchanges depending on temperature. Absorption measurements have been used to monitor the changes in band gap energy (E-g) of solar cell grade thin films as a function of the annealing temperature. We show that ordering can increase E-g by 110 meV as compared to fully disordered material. Kinetics simulations show that E-g can be used as an order parameter and the critical temperature for the CZTSe order-disorder transition is 200 +/- 20 degrees C. On the one hand, ordering was found to increase the correlation length of the crystal. But on the other hand, except the change in E-g, ordering did not influence the PL signal of the CZTSe. (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.