Defects induced photoluminescence and ellipsometric measurements of reactive sputtered growth MoS2 nanoworms

Abstract In the present work, we synthesize molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) thin films on the soda lime glass substrate (SLG) by reactive sputtering of molybdenum target in the Ar–H2S atmosphere at different sputtering power. The structure and the surface morphology of the reactive magnetron sputtered MoS2 thin films have been investigated using the X-ray diffraction technique (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, and Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) provides the chemical information and elemental composition of MoS2 thin films, respectively. The optical properties of reactive sputtered deposited MoS2 thin films were analyzed by absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) while the optical constants were determined using spectroscopic ellipsometry. XRD results exhibit the hexagonal crystal structure of reactive sputtered MoS2 thin films. FE-SEM images reveal the formation of nanoworms in reactive sputtered deposited MoS2 thin films. EDX confirms the homogeneity; uniformity and good atomic percentage of Mo and S in the MoS2 thin films. Absorption spectra confirm the indirect bandgap of as-grown MoS2 thin film. PL spectra give an idea about defect formation whereas ellipsometric measurements determine the variation of optical constants with a photon energy of the as-deposited thin film of MoS2 which suggests its application for future optoelectronic devices.