Improving carrier transport in CuO thin films by rapid thermal annealing.

Cuprous oxide (CuO) is a promising material for large scale photovoltaic applications. The efficiencies of thin film structures are, however, currently lower than those for structures based on CuO sheets, possibly due to their poorer transport properties. This study shows that post-deposition rapid thermal annealing (RTA) of CuO films is an effective approach for improving carrier transport in films prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering.