Effects of Relatively High Temperature on Thin Films of PbS Fabricated by Chemical Bath Deposition Method

Chemical bath deposition (CBD) method was used to deposit thin films of PbS. In the experiments, PbS was obtained at four temperatures which are 55, 65, 75 and 85 °C. The effects of relatively high temperature were investigated in detail. The structural properties of the PbS films were examined by using X-ray diffractometer (XRD). According to the XRD, it was found that when temperature was increased, the preferred orientation shifted from (111) plane to the (002) plane at a deposition temperature higher than 75 °C. Besides, crystallite sizes (cs), lattice constants (a), average stresses (S), micro strains (e) and dislocation densities (d) were obtained from the XRD results. Surface properties of the PbS thin films were researched by using scanning electron microscope (SEM). It was seen from the SEM images that there was crack on the surface of the films when the film was obtained at 55 °C. On the other hand, no cracks were observed in the SEM images of PbS films of 30000 magnifications produced at temperatures higher than 55 °C.