X-ray absorption spectroscopy to investigate the doping mechanism in amorphous Cu$_2$ZnSnS$_4$ thin films

Recently, Teeter \textit{et al.} at NREL have discovered that Cu$_{2}$ZnSnS$_{4}$ thin films, of interest for photovoltaics, are amorphous (a-CZTS) when grown at room temperature and the film resistivity can be tuned over a wide range by controlling the Cu:Sn ratio. Tetrahedrally-coordinated amorphous semiconductors belong to an interesting class of compounds that are predicted to have the ability of being doped both $p$- and $n$-type. The four-fold coordination plays a critical role in unpinning the Fermi level to allow effective control over doping levels in a disordered structure. We performed extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy at the $K$-edges of Cu, Zn and Sn to determine the extent of structural disorder and tetrahedral coordination in a-CZTS films grown with varying Cu:Sn content. All films exhibit a high degree of structural disorder beyond the cations' first coordination shell. Both Cu and Zn atoms have high degree of tetrahedral coordination with respect to S atoms while the average coordination number of Sn decreases with increasing Sn content, indicative of either the favorable formation of sulfur vacancies around Sn atoms or the presence of Sn-related secondary phase. We combine these results with conductivity measurements to understand the relationship between the structural and electrical properties of this new material.