Chemically Deposited Sb₂ S ₃ and Sb₂ S ₃ ‐ CuS Thin Films

Thin films of antimony sulfide have been deposited from chemical baths containing antimony trichloride and sodium thiosulfate maintained at 10°C. Upon annealing in nitrogen at 300°C for 1 h, the films become photosensitive with photo‐ to dark‐current ratio of two to three orders of magnitude at tungsten halogen radiation. The annealed films are crystalline with an X‐ray diffraction pattern matching that of stibnite, , (JCPDS 6‐0474) and show an optical bandgap of 1.78 eV. Deposition of a thin film of CuS on the antimony sulfide thin film and subsequent annealing in nitrogen at 250°C for 1 h produces films with acceptable solar control characteristics: integrated visible transmittance, T_vis, 15%; integrated visible reflectance, R_vis, 12%; integrated infrared transmittance, T_ir, 14%; integrated infrared reflectance, R_ir, 36%; and a shading coefficient of about 0.35. The X‐ray diffraction patterns of the annealed thin films indicate the formation of a ternary compound with the structure of famatinite, .