Influence of deposition temperature on structural, morphological, and optical properties of ZnS thin films

ZnS thin films were deposited onto glass substrates by chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique at different deposition temperatures (75, 80, 85, 90 °C) with non-toxic complexing agent tri-sodium citrate. Effects of deposition temperature on structural, morphological, and optical properties of thin films were investigated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, respectively. The XRD results show that all produced ZnS thin films have cubic structure. The calculated grain size values are between 13 and 26 nm. It was observed that the grain size values increase and crystallization of films improve as the deposition temperature increases. The FESEM images reveal that film surfaces are formed by almost homogeneously dispersed nanostructured particles. Optical characterization results show that ZnS thin films have high transmittance of about 80% in the range of 400-800 nm with band gap energy values between 3.52 and 3.65 eV. As the deposition temperature increases, the band gap energy values increase. According to these results, it was observed that the structural, morphological, and optical properties of ZnS films vary depending on the deposition temperature. (author)