Structural phase modification in Cu incorporated nanostructured zinc sulfide thin films

Cu incorporated zinc sulfide (ZnS) films are prepared by a RF magnetron sputtering technique and the influence of Cu doping concentration on the structural, morphological and optical properties is systematically analyzed using techniques like grazing incidence X-Ray diffraction (GIXRD), micro-Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and UV-vis spectroscopy. XRD examination of the as-prepared films revealed the presence of polycrystalline structure with co-existence of cubic and hexagonal phases in the pure and lower Cu incorporated films. Increase in Cu doping concentration causes a gradual phase transformation from mixed phase to cubic phase. Micro-Raman spectra further confirms the structural phase modifications with the addition of Cu in ZnS. Morphological analysis shows compact distribution of elongated grain geometry with good connectivity and detectable grain boundary in the pure and Cu incorporated films. Increase in Cu incorporation results in the systematic reduction of RMS surface roughness. EDS analysis confirms the incorporation of Cu and surface vacancy defects in the doped films. All the films are transparent in the visible region and band gap calculation by Tauc plot shows that increase in Cu incorporation results in band gap renormalization.