Structural and optical properties of amorphous and crystalline antimony sulfide thin-films

Smooth and compact thin films of amorphous and crystalline antimony sulfide (Sb2S3) were prepared by radio frequency sputtering of an Sb2S3 target. As-deposited films are amorphous. Polycrystalline antimony sulfide films composed of ∼ 500 nm grains are obtained by annealing the as-deposited films at 400 °C in sulfur vapors. Both amorphous and crystalline antimony sulfide have strong absorption coefficients of 1.8 × 105 cm− 1 at 450 nm and 7.5 × 104 cm− 1 at 550 nm, and have direct bandgaps with band energies of 2.24 eV and 1.73 eV, respectively. These results suggest the potential use of both amorphous and crystalline antimony sulfide films in various solid state devices.