Effect of annealing parameters on structural and morphological properties of sprayed ZnS thin films

Abstract

Abstract We have investigated the effect of annealing and substrate temperature on structural and morphological properties of ZnS binary thin films grown on glass substrates by the spray pyrolysis technique. The crystal structure and grain size of the particles were determined, using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The morphological properties were studied by the Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The films were then annealed under nitrogen at 300 °C, 400 °C and 500 °C, under Vacuum and nitrogen at 500 °C and sulphur atmosphere for one hour at 500 °C. This process allows us to obtain peaks crystallized under mixture of hexagonal (H) and cubic (C) phase. The crystallites exhibit preferential orientation along the (2 0 0) C direction. The variation of grain size and roughness were studied. Thus the grain size of the ZnS film increases when the annealing temperature is increased.