A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE EFFECT OF PRECURSOR CONCENTRATIONS ON THE PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LOW-COST KESTERITES FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC APPLICATIONS

In the ongoing few years, electricity cost is bound to increase so as a result, innovations in the photovoltaic industry are worth promising. One of the new ventures, kesterite (Cu₂ZnSnS₄) plays a significant role in fulfilling the energy demands due to its high earth abundance, non-toxicity, and low-cost processing characteristics. This semiconductor thin film can be considered as an alternative to CIGS where the expensive and scarce resources such as indium (In) and gallium (Ga) are replaced with cost-effective and abundant zinc (Zn) and tin (Sn). In this paper, the variations in the concentration of precursors of kesterite– copper, zinc, tin, and sulfur, and their influence on structural and optoelectrical characteristics of kesterite thin films have been reviewed and their effects are discussed.