Influence Annealing Process on Structural and Optical Properties of SnS Thin Films

Abstract

Thin film technology has helped offer an understanding of the crystalline structure of substances, further to the characteristics of electronic transitions and how they are used effectively in different applications.  This research focused on the effect of the process of annealing on the structural and optical characteristics of tin sulfide (SnS) thin films. The technique of thermal evaporation was used to synthesize the film samples under a vacuum of about 10–7 mbar. The coated SnS thin films were annealed at 200 °C and the structural and optical characteristics parameters, such as absorbance and transmittance, as well as optical bandgap and band-tail energies in the range )300–1150( nm, were discussed. Under the influence of the annealing process, the average crystal size changed from 14 nm to 11 nm. The energy gap value increased from 1.53 eV to 1.85 eV, while Urbach energy was seen to reduce from 0.913 eV for fabricated samples to be 0.824 eV after the annealing process.