Effects of air annealing on the optical, electrical, and structural properties of nanostructured ZnS/Au/ZnS films

• Published in: Applied surface science Vol. 257; no. 5; pp. 1602 - 1606
• Main Authors: Ghorashi, S.M.B., Behjat, A., Neghabi, M., Mirjalili, G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 15.12.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Annealing; Annealing temperature; Au film; Cold working, work hardening; annealing, post-deformation annealing, quenching, tempering recovery, and crystallization; Cold working, work hardening; annealing, quenching, tempering, recovery, and recrystallization; textures; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Electrical properties of specific thin films; Electrical properties of specific thin films and layer structures (multilayers, superlattices, quantum wells, wires, and dots); Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Gold; Materials science; Nanomaterials; Nanostructure; Optical and electrical properties; Optical constants (including refractive index, complex dielectric constant, absorption, reflection and transmission coefficients, emissivity); Optical constants: refractive index, complex dielectric constant, absorption, reflection and transmission coefficients, emissivity; Optical properties; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Optical properties of bulk materials and thin films; Physics; Scanning electron microscopy; SEM; Transparent conductive; Treatment of materials and its effects on microstructure and properties; XRD; Zinc sulfides; 44.15.Eq; Transparent conductive; Annealing temperature; 78.20.Ci; Optical and electrical properties; SEM; 78.67.Pt; XRD; Au film; Inorganic compounds; Electrical conductivity; Glass; Nanostructures; Zinc sulfide; Multilayers; Temperature effects; X-ray analysis; Grain size; Scanning electron microscopy; Gold; Annealing; Semiconductor materials; Transition element compounds; Crystallinity; Transmittance; Thickness; Transition elements
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2010.08.103

In this paper, transparent conductive ZnS/Au/ZnS nano-multilayer films have been designed and the optimum thickness of gold and zinc sulfide layers are calculated. The conductive transparent ZnS/Au/ZnS nano-multilayer structure with optimized thickness have also been fabricated on a glass substrate by thermal evaporation and have been annealed in air at different temperatures. The electrical, optical and structural properties of the films such as electrical resistivity, optical transmittance, grain size have been obtained. X-ray diffraction patterns show that increase in annealing temperature increases the crystallinity of the structures. Moreover, Scanning electron microscope images of the samples show that the grain sizes become larger by increasing the annealing temperature which is in consistence with the X-ray diffraction analysis.