Effect of Complexing Agent and Annealing Atmosphere on Properties of Nanocrystalline ZnS Thin Films

The nanocrystalline Zinc Sulfide (ZnS) thin films were prepared on glass substrates by chemical bath deposition (CBD) method using aqueous solutions of zinc acetate, thiourea and tri-sodium citrate in alkaline medium at 80 degrees C. The tri-sodium citrate acts as a complexing agent. The effects of complexing agent and annealing atmosphere (95%N-2 + 5%H2S) on structural, morphological and optical properties of ZnS thin films were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and optical absorption. XRD study revealed that single phase ZnS powder was formed in the solution with tri-sodium citrate, however, ZnS and ZnO mixed phase powder was formed in the solution without tri-sodium citrate. The films deposited with tri-sodium citrate showed ZnS with hexagonal wurtzite phase. However, annealed film in (N-2 + H2S) atmosphere showed cubic (zincblende) phase. FE-SEM images show that grain size of as-deposited and annealed ZnS films are about 20 nm and 50 nm, respectively. Optical absorption study showed that the films have moderate optical transmission from 65% to 75% in the visible region and the optical band gap energy of as-deposited ZnS film is 3.91 eV and it decreases to 3.73 eV after annealing.