Coverage of rough substrates by ZnS using vacuum evaporation and atomic layer epitaxy

The effects of various deposition techniques on the growth of ZnS thin films on a sintered BaTiO3-based complex perovskite substrate, using the scanning electron microscope have been studied. The results clearly show a non-uniform and incomplete coverage of the sub strate in the case of films grown by electron-beam evaporation and resistance-heated evaporation. A shadowing effect is observed in these films. Increase in the thickness of the films tends to decrease the shadowing effect. On the contrary, films grown by the atomic layer epitaxy method, exhibit a complete and uniform coverage of the substrate, even for thin (< 100 nm) ZnS films.