Mechanisms of charge transfer and electronic properties of Cu2ZnGeS4 from investigations of the high field magnetotransport

Recent development of the thin film solar cells, based on quaternary compounds, has been focused on the Ge contain compounds and their solid solutions. However, for effective utilization of Cu2ZnGeS4, deeper investigations of its transport properties are required. In the present manuscript, we investigate resistivity, amp; 961; T , magnetoresistance and Hall effect in p type Cu2ZnGeS4 single crystals in pulsed magnetic fields up to 20 T. The dependence of amp; 961; T in zero magnetic field is described by the Mott type of the variable range hopping VRH charge transfer mechanism within a broad temperature interval of 100 200 K. Magnetoresistance contains the positive and negative components, which are interpreted by the common reasons of doped semiconductors. On the other hand, a joint analysis of the resistivity and magnetoresistance data has yielded series of important electronic parameters and permitted specification of the Cu2ZnGeS4 conductivity mechanisms outside the temperature intervals of the Mott VRH conduction. The Hall coefficient is negative, exhibiting an exponential dependence on temperature, which is quite close to that of amp; 961; T . This is typical of the Hall effect in the domain of the VRH charge transfer