Study of structural and morphological properties of thermally evaporated Sn2Sb6S11 thin films

In this study, we report the structural and morphological properties of the new material Sn2Sb6S11 thin films prepared on glass substrates by vacuum thermal evaporation at various substrate temperatures (30, 60, 100, 140, 180 and 200 °C). Sn2Sb6S11 ingot was synthesized by the horizontal Bridgman technique. The structural properties of Sn2Sb6S11 powder were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy. The films were characterized for their structural properties by using XRD. All films were polycrystalline in nature. The variations of the structural parameters of the films with the substrate temperature were investigated. The results show that the crystallite sizes increase as the substrate temperature increases. The morphological properties of the films were analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The roughness and the topography of the surface of the films strongly depend on the substrate temperature.