Structural and optoelectronic properties of vacuum evaporated SnS thin films annealed in argon ambient

In this work, 650 nm polycrystalline SnS thin films were grown by thermal evaporation of high purity tin sulfide powder at 250 °C substrate temperature, followed by post deposition annealing at 200 °C and 300 °C for 2, 4 and 6 h, and at 400 °C for 2 and 4 h in argon ambient. The XRD pattern of the as-deposited and annealed SnS films led to the conclusion that the as-deposited films were polycrystalline in nature with preferentially oriented along (1 1 1) direction. The direct bandgap of all the films was found to be observed between 1.33 and 1.53 eV. Except for annealing at 400 °C all the films were nearly stoichiometric in nature, suggesting lower rate of desulfurization at that ambient. However, higher annealing temperature has resulted in the segregation of tin phase. All the films showed good absorption in the visible range. The as-deposited and annealed films showed p-type conductivity. Hall measurement revealed the carrier concentration and mobility ranging from 1015 to 1016 cm−3 and 0.8 to 31.6 cm2 V−1 s−1 respectively. The photoconductivity measurements of all the SnS films were carried out by recording the lowering of resistance of the respective films with time under illumination.

Research highlights▶ Characterization of SnS films as a function of temperature and duration of annealing. ▶ No noticeable structural change for annealing upto 300 ° in argon ambient. ▶ Segregation of tin phase observed for SnS films annealed at 400 °C for 2 h. ▶ Variation of photosensitivity of SnS films with annealing parameters was studied.