Structural and morphological evaluation of layered WS2 thin films

We present the basic growth knowledge and the building mechanism on layered WS2 thin films prepared on sapphire substrates by sulfurization at 800 degrees C of sputtered precursor W with 14 and 28 nm thicknesses. The recorded XRD patterns from both types of samples indicate that a 2H-WS2 hexagonal microstructure with the grain size of about 9 nm was created. However, the intensities of the (100) and (110) peaks were very weak in comparison with that of the (002) peak. From SEM observations it was identified that the WS2 layer is not compact in its depth and many flakes in combination with nanorods and nanowires are visible and in addition they are embedded into the basal material in both investigated samples. We assume that the quantification of nanorods parameters together with detailed XRD evaluation are effective methods to get more information on non-closed layered WS2 films.