Effects of growth temperatures on the structural and optoelectronic properties of sputtered zinc sulfide thin films for solar cell applications

Abstract

The role of various substrate temperatures on the structural and optoelectronic properties of sputtered zinc sulfide (ZnS) thin films has been investigated in this work. The study of prepared film characterization has been done by XRD, AFM, UV–Vis spectrometry and Hall-effect measurement analysis. XRD patterns of the room temperature grown films reveal an amorphous nature, while the films deposited at 100 °C, 200 °C. 300 °C and 400 °C are found to be polycrystalline having the (111) preferential orientation. The optical bandgap values are found in the range of 3.18–3.61 eV depending on the substrate temperatures. The bulk and surface carrier densities are found in the order of 1012 cm−3 and 107 cm−3, respectively. The growth temperatures are also observed to have a significant effect on the electrical characteristic of the deposited films. © 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.