SrZrS₃ thin films grown on different single crystal substrates by PLD

Chalcogenide perovskite is an emerging class of semiconductor materials with potential applications in electronics and optoelectronics. β-SrZrS3 with a distorted perovskite structure was theoretically predicted to be a direct gap semiconductor with band gap value of ~ 2 eV. Its powder was synthesized and optical measurement confirmed the calculation results. In this work, we report the growth of  β-SrZrS₃ thin films on sapphire and Lanthanum aluminate (LAO) substrates, using CS₂ treatment of PLD grown films. While the films on sapphire substrates are polycrystalline with random orientation, the films on ALO show strong texture, suggesting epitaxial growth.  The composition and structure were verified by EDX and XRD. The PL and Uv-vis absorption measurements show the films possess a band gap of around 2.1eV. Prospects for device applications will be discussed.