Single-Source Pulsed Laser Deposition of MAPbI3

As the employment of halide perovskite films in single-junction and tandem solar cells continues to soar, there is a strong drive -from academia to industry- to produce these films using dry processes, avoiding the use of toxic solvents. Vapor deposition methods such as co-evaporation have shown advantages of solvent-free approaches to produce high-efficiency solar cells. However, co-evaporation requires the use of multiple sources that challenge the deposition rate control of complex halide perovskite compositions. Here, Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) is proposed as an alternative method to deposit hybrid halide perovskites films from a single-source and following a fully dry approach. We use the archetypical methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) to demonstrate the formation of high-quality films with optimal optoelectronic properties by PLD on various substrates for single-junction and tandem devices. Furthermore, the important role of the PLD target composition and deposition parameters to achieve control over film microstructure and optoelectronic properties is discussed. The controlled conformal growth provided by PLD demonstrated in this work with MAPbI3 on device-relevant substrates will broaden opportunities to explore PLD of more complex hybrid halide perovskite compositions for efficient, stable, and scalable solar cell devices.