Effect of thickness on optical properties of thermally evaporated SnS films

The effect of film thickness on the structure and optical properties of thermally evaporated SnS film has been studied. SnS films with different thicknesses in the range 152–585nm were deposited onto clean glass substrates at room temperature. X-ray diffraction study revealed that SnS films of thickness ≥283nm are crystalline, whereas films of lower thickness exhibit poor crystalline with more amorphous background. The crystalline nature of the lower film thickness has been confirmed using transmission electron microscope and the corresponding electron diffraction pattern. The thicker film samples showed nearly stoichiometric chemical composition; however, thinner samples are deficient in S and rich in Sn. The optical property of the deposited films has been investigated in the wavelength range 350–2500nm. The refractive index increases notably with increasing film thickness. The refractive index for the investigated film thicknesses are adequately described by the effective-single-oscillator model. The static refractive index and the static dielectric constant have been calculated. Analysis of the optical absorption coefficient revealed the presence of direct optical transition and the corresponding band gap values were found to decrease as the film thickness increases. ► X-ray diffraction was used to study the structure of SnS films. ► Transmission electron microscope confirms the crystalline state of SnS films. ► The refractive index increases notably with increasing the film thickness. ► The optical band gap of SnS films decreases with increasing film thickness.