Influence of magnetic field and type of substrate on the growth of ZnS films by chemical bath

Optical and structural characterization of ZnS thin films grown by chemical bath deposition (CBD), introducing for the first time a magnetic field (MF), are reported. Corning glass as well as Si and GaAs single crystals were used as substrates. The effect of H2-annealing, in the range of temperature 200–300 °C, and MF on the morphology and crystalline structure of films is studied in atomic force microscopy images and in X-ray diffractograms. MF does not manifest appreciable influence on the grain size (GS) when glass substrates are used. On the contrary GS diminishes noticeably when MF is applied on ZnS/Si and ZnS/GaAs CBD-growths. Further, an improvement of the optical properties with post-growth annealing in H2, as exhibited by optical transmission, is obtained. An application of these ZnS films as antireflective coating is analyzed by reflectance spectra.