IUVSTA 15th International Vacuum Congress (IVC-15), AVS 48th International Symposium (AVS-48), 11th International Conference on Solid Surfaces (ICSS-11)
    Thin Films Tuesday Sessions
       Session TF-TuP

Paper TF-TuP2
Growth of Wide Band Gap MnS Thin Films by rf Sputtering: Substrate Temperature Effects on Structure and Composition

Tuesday, October 30, 2001, 5:30 pm, Room 134/135

Session: Microstructure, Oxides, and Optical Properties Poster Session
Presenter: O. Jiménez-Sandoval, Cinvestav-IPN, Mexico
Authors: S.A. Mayen-Hernandez, Cinvestav-IPN, Mexico
R. Perez-Castanedo, Cinvestav-IPN, Mexico
O. Jiménez-Sandoval, Cinvestav-IPN, Mexico
G. Torres-Delgado, Cinvestav-IPN, Mexico
S. Jiménez-Sandoval, Cinvestav-IPN, Mexico
Correspondent: Click to Email
Manganese sulfide (MnS) is a wide band gap semiconductor that crystallizes in its stable form with the octahedrally coordinated rocksalt structure, presenting as well other metastable structures: cubic(zincblend) and hexagonal (wurtzite). One of the problems that have precluded the application of this semiconductor in devices, has been the little work carried out so far to grow high quality MnS films. To date, most of the work done on MnS has been using chemical bath and thermal evaporation as preparation thecniques. These two methods yielded amorphous and polycrystalline films, respectively. To our knowledge, no report exists so far on the growth of MnS films by rf sputtering due to the technical difficulties involved. In this work we report on the appropriate conditions for the growth of nearly stoichiometric MnS thin films prepared by rf sputtering and the important effects of substrate temperature on film composition and structure. The produced films were polycrystalline with an energy band gap of around 3.47 eV, a value that makes MnS an appealing material for optical windows in applications such as solar cells.