Effects of Thickness and Ag Layer Addition on the Properties of ZnS Thin Films

S.H. Mohameda, N.M.A. Hadiaa, b, M.A. Awada, Essam R. Shaabanc aPhysics Department, Faculty of Science, Sohag University, 82524 Sohag, Egypt bDepartment of physics, College of Science, Jouf University, Jouf, Saudi Arabia cDepartment of Physics, Faculty of Science, Al-Azahar University, Assiut, 71542, Egypt

Received: April 21, 2018; revised version July 16, 2018; in final form August 13, 2018

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Zinc sulfide (ZnS) thin films, with different thicknesses and different silver (Ag) middle layer thickness, were prepared on glass substrates using thermal evaporation. The structural and optical properties of ZnS thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction and UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer. The X-ray diffraction analyses indicated that ZnS films have cubic structure with (111) preferential orientation, whereas the diffraction patterns sharpen with the increase in the film thickness. The intensities of the Ag peaks increased strongly while the intensities of ZnS peaks decreased when the Ag layer increased to 86 nm. The optical band gap values decreased while the refractive index increased with the increase of the film thickness and Ag layer thickness. These results show that ZnS films are suitable for use as the buffer layer of the Cu(In, Ga)Se2 solar cells.

DOI:10.12693/APhysPolA.135.420 topics: ZnS film, thermal evaporation, buffer layer, effect of thickness, Ag layer thickness