Surface modification of ZnS films by applying an external magnetic field in vacuum chamber

Abstract

In this paper, ZnS films were prepared using pulsed laser deposition technique in vacuum chamber in the presence and absence of an external magnetic field. The applied magnetic field effects on optical properties and film growth conditions were studied. For this reason, morphological, structural and optical properties of the grown films have been investigated by atomic force microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction and UV–vis spectroscopy analysis techniques. The structural studies revealed that the ZnS films deposited at 200 °C crystallized in hexagonal structure. The results showed the improvement of the film crystallinity upon grain size increment and the surface morphology modification resulted from applying an external magnetic field. Using the UV–vis spectroscopy data, absorption coefficient (α), refractive index (n) and extinction coefficient (k) of the samples were calculated. The band gap energy (Eg) and Urbach energy were also calculated by Tauc, ASF and DASF methods. The results show that by applying magnetic field, the band gap and Urbach energies reduced, due to improvement in the film crystallinity. For describing the magnetic field effect, a simulation of applied magnetic field effect on vapor flux in vacuum chamber was performed using Multi-Physics COMSOL package.