The research determines the features of formation, morphology, chemical composition and optical properties of the coatings deposited by the method, proposed for the first time, of the exposure of mechanical mixture of zinc and sulfur powders to low-energy electron beam evaporation. The findings show that the deposited coatings are characterized by high chemical and structural homogeneity in thickness. The study considers the influence of substrate temperature and thickness of the deposited layer on the morphology and the width of the formed ZnS thin layers band gap. Also was shown the possibility to form ZnS coatings with this method using the mixture of zinc and copper sulfide powders. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.