Influence of the deposition parameters on the properties of SnS2 films prepared by PECVD method combined with solid sources

Hexagonal tin disulfide (SnS2) films were deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method combined with solid sources, in which SnCl4·5H2O and Na2S2O3 were used as the tin and sulfur sources, respectively. Nano-sheet and nano-flower structure SnS2 films were obtained under different experimental conditions. The nano-sheet SnS2 films were built by irregular nanoplates with 400 ± 100 nm in length and 10 nm in thickness. And the nano-flower SnS2 films consisted of uniform nano-flowers in size with the diameter being around 1 μm. The influence of different substrates, the annealing treatment and the substrate temperature on the crystal structure, surface morphology, chemical composition, and optical properties of the SnS2 films were systemically discussed. The results show that the crystal structure and surface morphology have some differences in the films deposited on different substrates. After annealing treatment, the crystallinity of the SnS2 films increases, and at the same time, the internal stress reduces. However, there is no change in the stress direction. The surface morphology of the films turns into nano-flower from nano-sheet when the substrate temperature increases. The corresponding optical band gaps of the films are 2.68, 2.86, and 2.95 eV, which all show significant blue shift mainly due to the quantum confinement effect.