Synthesis and physical behaviour of In2S3 films

Abstract In2S3 layers have been grown by close-spaced evaporation of pre-synthesized In2S3 powder from its constituent elements. The layers were deposited on glass substrates at temperatures in the range, 200–350 °C. The effect of substrate temperature on composition, structure, morphology, electrical and optical properties of the as-grown indium sulfide films has been studied. The synthesized powder exhibited cubic structure with a grain size of 63.92 nm and S/In ratio of 1.01. The films grown at 200 °C were amorphous in nature while its crystallinity increased with the increase of substrate temperature to 300 °C. The films exhibited pure tetragonal β-In2S3 phase at the substrate temperature of 350 °C. The surface morphological analysis revealed that the films grown at 300 °C had an average roughness of 1.43 nm. These films showed a S/In ratio of 0.98 and a lower electrical resistivity of 1.28 × 103 Ω cm. The optical band gap was found to be direct and the layers grown at 300 °C showed a higher optical transmittance of 78% and an energy band gap of 2.49 eV.