In the present work we report the details of the preparation and characterization results of Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) based solar cells. The LLB absorber was obtained by sulphurization of dc magnetron sputtered Zn/Sn/Cu precursor layers. The morphology, composition and structure of the absorber layer were studied by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering. The majority carrier type was identified via a hot point probe analysis. The hole density, space charge region width and band gap energy were estimated from the external quantum efficiency measurements. A MoS2 layer that formed during the sulphurization process was also identified and analyzed in this work. The solar cells had the following structure: soda lime glass/Mo/CZTS/CdS/i-ZnO/ZnO:Al/Al grid. The best solar cell showed an open-circuit voltage of 345 mV, a short-circuit current density of 4.42 mA/cm(2), a fill factor of 44.29% and an efficiency of 0.68% under illumination in simulated standard test conditions: AM 1.5 and 100 mW/cm(2). (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.