Modification of structure, morphology and physical properties of tin sulfide thin films by pulsed laser irradiation

This paper presents modification of tin sulfide (SnS) thin films by pulsed laser irradiation. Tin sulfide films of 1 mu m thickness were prepared using chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique. The chemical bath contained 5 ml acetone, 12 ml of triethanolamine, 8 ml of 1 M thioacetamide, 10 ml of 4 M ammonium hydroxide and 65 ml of distilled water. The chemical bath was kept at a constant temperature of 60 degrees C for 6 h which resulted in SnS films with 500 nm thickness. By double deposition, the final thickness of SnS thin films obtained was 1 mu m. Laser processing was conducted to modify the structure, morphology and physical properties of the SnS thin films. The laser specifications were pulsed Nd:YAG laser with 532 nm wavelength, 300 mJ pulse energy and 10 ns pulse width. Properties of the laser-irradiated SnS thin films were compared with the as-prepared SnS thin films. The changes in structure, morphology, optical and electrical properties of the laser-irradiated SnS thin films were described.