<![CDATA[This study used high-vacuum (10⁻⁵ Torr) thermal evaporation to fabricate a hybrid tellurium-tin/crystalline silicon (TeSn/c-Si) junction. The junction was deposited at room temperature, 323 K, and 348 K to evaluate its structural and electrical properties. Thin TeSn layers (500 nm thick) and the resulting diodes underwent thermal annealing. DC conductivity testing revealed a double-transfer mechanism governed by the Arrhenius equation. A significant increase in the activation energies Ea1 and Ea2 was observed following thermal annealing at 348 K, reaching 0.44 eV and 0.65 eV, respectively. This indicates an improvement in the layer’s crystallinity due to annealing and a decrease in the density of local states. Capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements confirm the formation of a sharp heterojunction interface, exhibiting a significant improvement in the internal potential (Vbi) from 1.24 eV (at room temperature) to 1.7 eV (at 348 K) due to the passivation of the interface states. Furthermore, the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics in darkness show thermal emission behavior under forward bias and a gradual breakdown under reverse bias. Under illumination, the heterojunction exhibited a significant improvement in photovoltaic performance, with a peak short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 3.1 × 10⁻¹ mA/cm² after annealing at 348 K. These results highlight the crucial role of post-deposition thermal tuning in reducing recombination centers and enhancing the overall efficiency of chalcogenide-based solar harvesting devices.]]>
