Effects of Annealing and Thickness on the Structural and Optical Properties of Crystalline ZnS Thin Films Prepared by PVD Method

Zinc Sulfide (ZnS) thin films were deposited on glass substrates at the pressure of 10-6 mbar by thermal resistor evaporation technique. The effects of annealing on the structural, optical properties of ZnS films were studied. Crystalline ZnS films have been analyzed by X-ray diffraction. Only cubic phase with the preferred (111) plane was found in ZnS films. Optical characteristics were studied as a function of annealing temperature and thickness in air. The results show that the energy band gap was found to be about 3.5 eV. It was observed that the energy gap decreases with the increase in the film thickness and increases with the increase in the annealing temperature.