MORPHOLOGY AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THIN FILMS OF CHALCOPYRITE

Abstract

Thin films of chalcopyrite CuFeS2 were deposited on glass substrates by a flash method. The resulting film structure was analyzed by means of scanning electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. It was detected that thin films consist of separate grains with the approximately equal areas of about (200-400) pm2. Thin films of chalcopyrite CuFeS2 have the chemical composition with the atomic content of Cu, Fe, and S of 25.22, 23.38, and 51.40 at. % and the atomic ratios of Cu/Fe and S/(Cu + Fe) equaling to 1.08 and 1.06 respectively that slightly differs from the theoretical values equaling to 1 for both atomic ratios. The small inclusion of the second phase with the chemical composition with the atomic content of Cu, Fe, and S of 29.24, 25.24, and 45.52 at. % was detected and can be attributed to talnakhite Cu9Fe8S16. The most common occurrence of the inclusion of the second phase along the borders of the grain shows that they are responsible for the cracking of thin films.