Spectral characteristics and morphology of nanostructured Pb–S–O thin films synthesized via two different methods

Using two different experimental techniques, namely chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and physical vapor deposition (PVD), we deposited a lead sulphide (PbS) thin films with a very small lifetime (10−9). We investigated the morphology of the obtained PbS films using various techniques i.e. AFM, SEM, EDAX, AES and HRTEM. In the case of CVD, we found that the surface consists of grains with dimensions in the plane (diameter to 300 nm and height up to 200 nm), while the same order of the grain size has been observed for PVD. On the other hand, SEM investigation reveals that the PbS particles with various morphologies of both films have uniform and the particle size distribution. Small amount of sodium was obtained from EDXS studies, which may originate from the substrate where the deposition process has been produced at temperature 550–600 °C and for CVD at minimum accelerating voltage 5 kV silicon are presented in the spectrum, which means that the region for X-ray generation voltage data exceeds the thickness of the films (where the thickness of films about 0.4μm). AES confirms the surface layer of these films (PVD) containing carbon and oxygen and it has a thickness of 0.1μm. At a depth of 1.3μm in films these elements are again increased, which corresponds to the film thickness of 1.5μm. Layers of PVD films are seen by HRTEM and the studies confirm that oxygen-layer located on top of the structure, while the layers of CVD films not only have the oxygen along the crystallite boundaries, but also accumulate in the depth of the boundary with the substrate. Our results of morphology indicate that the change in spectral characteristics of films deposited by (CVD and PVD) is related to the structure and the crystalline size.