High quality crystalline MoS2 thin films obtained on Ni coated substrates: Optimization of the post-annealing treatment

Textured MoS2 films can be obtained by solid state reaction between the Constituents in thin film form when a thin Ni base layer is present. The crystallites have their c-axis perpendicular to the plane of the substrate. The better annealing conditions are T = 1123 K and t = 30 min. The films are nearly stoichiometric, they are p-type. It appears by XPS depth profiling that nickel is present all over the thickness of the MoS2 films. The high conductivity and photoconductivity of the films demonstrate the high crystalline quality of the films obtained. The crystallization process is discussed. it appears that the presence of liquid NiS phase alone cannot explain the improvement of the crystallization of the MoS2 thin films. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.