The Soft X‐ray beamline at the Australian synchrotron has been constructed around a collimated light Plane Grating Monochromator taking light from an Elliptically Polarized Undulator (EPU). The beamline covers a wide photon energy range between 90 to 2500 eV, using two gratings of 250 l/mm and 1200 l/mm. At present the output from the monochromator is directed into one branchline with a dedicated UHV endstation. The measured performance of the beamline in flux and resolution is shown to be very close to that of theoretical calculations.

The heterojunctions of different n-type buffers, i.e., CdS, Zn(O,S), and In2S3 on p-type Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) were investigated using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (NEXAFS) Measurements. The band alignment of the heterojunctions formed between CZTS and the buffer materials was carefully measured. The XPS data were used to determine the Valence Band Offsets (VBO) of different buffer/CZTS heterojunctions. The Conduction Band Offset (CBO) was calculated indirectly by XPS data and directly measured by NEXAFS characterization. The CBO of the CdS/CZTS heterojunction was found to be cliff-like with CBOXPS = −0.24 ± 0.10 eV and CBONEXAFS = −0.18 ± 0.10 eV, whereas those of Zn(O,S) and In2S3 were found to be spike-like with CBOXPS = 0.92 ± 0.10 eV and CBONEXAFS = 0.87 ± 0.10 eV for Zn(O,S)/CZTS and CBOXPS = 0.41 ± 0.10 eV for In2S3/CZTS, respectively. The CZTS photovoltaic device using the spike-like In2S3 buffer was found to yield a higher open circuit voltage (Voc) than that using the cliff-like CdS buffer. However, the CBO of In2S3/CZTS is slightly higher than the optimum level and thus acts to block the flow of light-generated electrons, significantly reducing the short circuit current (Jsc) and Fill Factor (FF) and thereby limiting the efficiency. Instead, the use of a hybrid buffer for optimization of band alignment is proposed.