Ensuring The Homogeneity OF Spray Pyrolised SnS Thin Films Employing XPS Depth Profiling.

SnS thin films were prepared using chemical spray pyrolysis (CSP) technique. p-type SnS films with direct band gap of 1.33 eV and having very high absorption coefficient were obtained with the optimized deposition conditions. In this paper we focus on investigating the uniformity and phase purity of the hence deposited SnS films employing Raman and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. Raman Spectra of the films had only single peak corresponding to the Raman active Ag mode at 224 cm^-1 which is characteristic for phase-pure SnS thin films. Detailed XPS analysis on these samples were performed by scanning the peaks for Sn, S, and O with high resolution to estimate the chemical states and composition. Employing Ar-ion sputtering, the depth profiles showing variation in concentration and binding energies of S, Sn, O over the sample thickness were obtained and the uniformity in composition along the thickness has been discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]