Tungsten Disulfide Film Prepared by Sulfurization

Tungsten disulfide film can be successfully prepared by the sulfurization of tungsten trioxide film, which is deposited on the substrate. As the method has attracted the attention of people, the performance of tungsten disulfide film prepared is being studied by more and more people.

Sulfurization is a process to disulfide tungsten trioxide film that deposited on the substrate in advance, using sulfur powder or pyrolytic hydrogen sulfide. In the sulfurization process, the sulfur atom replaces the oxygen atom in the WO3 main lattice to form tungsten disulfide film. And structure of tungsten disulfide film is affected by the sulfurization time, temperature and the amount of sulfur powder.

Sulfurization of tungsten disulfide film is first used by A. Matthaue et al. They calculated the average vapor pressures of layered compound MoX₂ and WX₂ (X = Se, S) using Gibbs free energy minimization method. With the good thermal stability, MX₂ compound film can be better deposited on the substrate under the higher temperature and the lower sulfur vapor pressure.

The following is a process of preparing tungsten disulfide film by sulfurization.

Firstly, WO₃ thin film with thickness of 2 x10^-7 m is deposited on the 3Cr13 martensite stainless steel substrate by DC reactive magnetron sputtering. Then it is sulfide in quartz furnace. In the process, 3Cr13 martensite stainless steel is heated to transformation temperature 820°C and the sulfurization temperature is lower than 700°C. WO₃ film and sulfur powder are heated to 600°C for 4 hours and then they are cooled. The sulfur atom replaces the oxygen atom in the WO₃ main lattice, thus tungsten disulfide film is successfully prepared.

The preparation of tungsten disulfide film by sulfurization is in the experimental stage. Therefore, some properties of tungsten disulfide film prepared by this method, such as crystallinity, crystal orientation and chemical composition of the film, need to be further studied.

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