Investigation the structural, optical and electrical properties of Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films deposited by spray pyrolysis techniqueYacine Aoun 1, Boubaker Benhaoua 2,Said Benramache 3,*

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited on glass substrates by spray pyrolysis technique decomposition of zinc acetate dihydrate in an ethanol solution with 30 mL of deposition rate, the ZnO thin films were deposited at two different temperatures: 300 and 350 ℃. The substrates were heated using the solar cells method. The substrate was R217102 glass, whose size was 30 × 17.5 × 1 mm³. The films exhibit a hexagonal wurtzite structure with a strong (002) preferred orientation. The higher value of crystallite size is attained for sprayed films at 350 ℃, which is probably due to an improvement of the crystallinity of the films at this point. The average trans mittance of obtain films is about 90%-95%, as measured by a UV-vis analyzer. The band gap energy varies from 3.265 to 3.294 eV for the deposited ZnO thin film at 300 and 350 ℃, respectively. The electrical resistivity measured of our films are in the order 0.36 Ω·cm.     

Research on the properties of ZnO1-xSx thin films modified by sulfur doping for CIGS solar cells

ZnO1-xSx thin films modified by sulfur doping were prepared on glass substrates by chemical bath deposition (CBD) for studying the effect of thiourea concentration on the thin film properties. The obtained ZnO1-xSx thin films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which shows the surfaces of ZnO1-xSx thin films deposited under the thiourea concentration of 0.14 M are more compact. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurement shows that the ZnO1-xSx thin films with hexagonal crystal structure had strong diffraction peaks and better crystallinity. The optical transmittance of the ZnO1-xSx thin films with 0.14 M thiourea concentration is above 80% in the wavelength range of 300—900 nm. According to the measurement results from spectrophotometer, the ZnO1-xSx band gap energy value Eg varies nonlinearly with different S/(S+O) ratio x, and increases with the increase of x. There is a band gap value of 2.97 eV in the ZnO1-xSx thin films deposited under 0.14 M thiourea concentration. Therefore, the thin films have better structural, optical and electric properties, and are more suitable for the buffer layers of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin film solar cells.     

The calculation of band gap energy in zinc oxide films

We investigated the optical properties of undoped zinc oxide thin films as the n-type semiconductor; the thin films were deposited at different precursor molarities by ultrasonic spray and spray pyrolysis techniques. The thin films were deposited at different substrate temperatures ranging between 200 and 500 ℃. In this paper, we present a new approach to control the optical gap energy of ZnO thin films by concentration of the ZnO solution and substrate temperatures in a cost-effective way. The model proposed to calculate the band gap energy with the Urbach energy was investigated. The relation between the experimental data and theoretical calculation suggests that the band gap energies are predominantly estimated by the Urbach energies, film transparency, and concentration of the ZnO solution and substrate temperatures. The measurements by these proposal models are in qualitative agreements with the experimental data; the correlation coefficient values were varied in the range 0.96-0.99999, indicating high quality representation of data based on Equation (2), so that the relative errors of all calculation are smaller than 4%. Thus, one can suppose that the undoped ZnO thin films are chemically purer and have many fewer defects and less disorder owing to an almost complete chemical decomposition and contained higher optical band gap energy.     

Influence of growth time on crystalline structure,conductivity and optical properties of ZnO thin films

This paper examines the growth of ZnO thin films on glass substrate at 350℃using an ultrasonic spray technique.We have investigated the influence of growth time ranging from 1 to 4 min on structural,optical and electrical properties of ZnO thin films.The as-grown films exhibit a hexagonal structure wurtzite and are(002) oriented.The maximum value of grain size G = 63.99 nm is attained for ZnO films grown at 2 min.The average transmittance is about 80%,thus the films are transparent in the visible region.The optical gap energy is found to increase from 3.26 to 3.37 eV with growth time increased from 1 to 2 min.The minimum value of electrical resistivity of the films is 0.13Ω·cm obtained at 2 min.A systematic study on the influence of growth time on the properties of ZnO thin films deposited by ultrasonic spray at 350℃has been reported.     

Influence of growth time on crystalline structure, conductivity and optical properties of ZnO thin films

This paper examines the growth of ZnO thin films on glass substrate at 350 ℃ using an ultrasonic spray technique. We have investigated the influence of growth time ranging from 1 to 4 min on structural, optical and electrical properties of ZnO thin films. The as-grown films exhibit a hexagonal structure wurtzite and are (002) oriented. The maximum value of grain size G = 63.99 nm is attained for ZnO films grown at 2 min. The average transmittance is about 80%, thus the films are transparent in the visible region. The optical gap energy is found to increase from 3.26 to 3.37 eV with growth time increased from 1 to 2 min. The minimum value of electrical resistivity of the films is 0.13 Ω·cm obtained at 2 min. A systematic study on the influence of growth time on the properties of ZnO thin films deposited by ultrasonic spray at 350 ℃ has been reported.     

Effect of substrate temperature on the stability of transparent conducting cobalt doped ZnO thin films

Transparent conducting Co doped ZnO thin films have been fabricated by Ultrasonic spray. The thin films were deposited at three different substrate temperatures of 300, 350 and 400 ℃. The obtained films had a hexagonal wurtzite structure with a strong (002) preferred orientation. The maximum crystallite size value of the film deposited at 350 ℃ is 55.46 nm. Spectrophotometer (UV-vis) of a Co doped ZnO film deposited at 350 ℃ shows an average transmittance of about 90%. The band gap energy increased from 3.351 to 3.362 eV when the substrate temperature increased from 300 to 350 ℃. The electrical conductivity of the films deposited at 300, 350 and 400 ℃ were 7.424, 7.547 and 6.743 (Ω·cm)^-1 respectively. The maximum activation energy value of the films at 350 ℃ was 1.28 eV, indicating that the films exhibit a n-type semiconducting nature.     

Influence of monomer concentration on optical properties of electrochemically synthesized polypyrrole thin films

Polypyrrole(PPy) thin films were deposited on stainless steel and ITO coated glass substrate at a constant deposition potential of 0.8 V versus saturated calomel electrode(SCE) by using the electrochemical polymerization method.The PPythin filmswere deposited at room temperatureat variousmonomer concentrations ranging from 0.1 M to 0.3 M pyrrole.The structural and optical properties of the polypyrrole thin films were investigated using an X-ray diffractometer(XRD),FTIR spectroscopy,scanning electron microscopy(SEM),and ultraviolet– visible(UV–vis) spectroscopy.The XRD results show that polypyrrole thin films have a semi crystalline structure.Higher monomer concentration results in a slight increase of crystallinity.The polypyrrole thin films deposited at higher monomer concentration exhibit high visible absorbance.The refractive indexes of the polypyrrole thin films are found to be in the range of 1 to 1.3 and vary with monomer concentration as well as wavelength.The extinction coefficient decreases slightly with monomer concentration.The electrochemically synthesized polypyrrole thin film shows optical band gap energy of 2.14 eV.     

Preparation of transparent conducting ZnO:Al films on glass substrates by ultrasonic spray technique

Transparent conductive Al doped ZnO thin films were deposited by ultrasonic spray technique.Conditions of preparation have been optimized to get good quality.A set of aluminum（Al） doped ZnO（between 0 and 5 wt%） thin films were grown on glass substrate at 350℃.Nanocrystalline films with a hexagonal wurtzite structure show a strong（002） preferred orientation.The maximum value of grain size G = 32.05 nm is attained of Al doped ZnO film with 3 wt%.All the films have low absorbance in the visible region,thus the films are transparent in the visible region;the band gap energy increased from 3.10 to 3.26 eV when Al concentration increased from 0 to 3 wt%.The electrical conductivity of the films increased from 7.5 to 15.2（Ω·cm）^-1.So the best results are achieved in Al doped ZnO film with 3 wt%.     

Solution flow rate influence on properties of copper oxide thin films deposited by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

The present work is an investigation of the solution flow rate influence on copper oxide (CuO) thin film properties deposited by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis. A set of CuO thin films were deposited, with various solution flow rates, on glass substrate at 300 °C. The precursor solution is formed with copper salt dissolution in distilled water with 0.05 molarity. The solution flow rate was ranged from 10 to 30 ml/h. Films composition and structure were characterized by means of XRD (X Rays diffraction) and Raman scattering. The optical properties were studied using UV–visible spectroscopy. The electrical conductivity, carrier mobility and concentration were determined by Hall Effect measurements. The obtained results indicate that flow rate is a key parameter controlling CuO films growth mechanism and their physical properties. The prepared films are mainly composed with a CuO monophase, the crystallite size is reduced with increasing the flow rate. A ZnO/CuO heterojunction structure has been realized and its rectifying behavior is tested.     

Influence of molar concentration on the physical properties of nebulizer-sprayed ZnO thin films for ammonia gas sensor

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited by nebulizer spray pyrolysis technique with different molar concentrations of 0.05 M, 0.10 M and 0.15 M. The films were characterized by structural, morphological, electrical and optical properties. X-ray diffraction confirms that the all films are polycrystalline in nature with hexagonal crystal structure having preferential orientation along (002) plane and the maximum crystallite size is found to be ～77 nm. The band gap energy increases with molar concentration and reaches a maximum value of 3.2 eV at 0.15 M. Room temperature photoluminescence measurements were performed and band to band emission energies of ZnO films were determined. High resolution scanning electron microscopy shows the uniform distribution, densely packed grains with a plate like structure of ～55 nm (0.05 M).     

Effects of the substrate temperature and solution molarity on the structural opto-electric properties of ZnO thin films deposited by spray pyrolysis

Zinc oxide (ZnO) was largely studied in various applications such as photovoltaic conversion, optoelectronics and piezoelectric, because of its interesting physical properties (morphological, structural, optical and electrical). The present work deals with the preparation of zinc oxide thin films (ZnO) deposited by the spray pyrolysis method. The starting solution was zinc chloride (ZnCl₂). Effects of solution molarity and substrate temperature on films properties were investigated. All films deposited were characterized by various techniques such as X-ray diffraction for structural characterizations, profilometry for thickness measurements, UV–vis transmission spectrophotometry for optical properties and the four probes conductivity measurements for electrical characterization. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns show that the films deposited are polycrystalline with (0 0 2) plan as preferential orientation. The UV–vis spectroscopy confirms the possibility of good transparent ZnO thin films deposition with an average transmission of about ∼85% in the visible region. However, the measured electrical resistivities of the deposited films were in the order of 10⁴ Ω cm     

Europium incorporation dynamics and some physical investigations within ZnO sprayed thin films

Europium doped ZnO thin films were deposited on glass substrates using a simple mini spray technique at 460 °C. The structural properties of as-prepared thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Both undoped and Eu-doped films show strong preferred c-axis orientation. The maximum value of the volume cells was obtained at 1% doping level. The texture coefficient (TC) of the films along (002) direction changes with the doping level due to Eu incorporation.The optical band gap calculated from transmittance and reflectance spectra show the effect of concentration on this energy. They equally outlined the direct gap absorption of these materials. Analysis of Urbach–Martienssen model parameters allows nano-scale explanations of the doping-related divergence of Urbach tailing evolution.     

The effect of Pb doping on the characteristic properties of spin coated ZnO thin films: Wrinkle structures

Un-doped and lead (Pb) doped ZnO thin films were deposited by sol–gel spin coating technique. Structural, morphological and optical properties of the films were investigated by means of Pb doping, in the range of 1–4% (with 1 at% step). X-ray diffraction results indicated that all films have hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure. (002) Reflection peak has been seen as the most intense peak and the highest texture coefficient value. Grain size values of the films varied from 19.68 nm to 13.37 nm with the increasing Pb incorporation. The top-view and cross sectional scanning electron microscope images demonstrated that the films were made up of wrinkle network structures and the films' thicknesses changed in the range of 400–276 nm. The direct optical band gap was calculated in 3 different functions and a significant harmony was observed among them. Additionally, all results indicated that the direct optical band gap and the Urbach values of the films increase with the increasing Pb doping content. Besides, the effects of Pb content on the photoluminescence properties of ZnO films were evaluated and it was observed that the decrease in the photoluminescence intensity was based on the Pb content. Moreover, the correlation between the optical and structural properties suggested that the optical band gap of Pb doped ZnO films were influenced by the lattice parameters a and c.     

Enhancement of photoluminescence in Sr doped ZnO thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis

Photoluminescence characteristics of strontium doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Sr) thin films grown by spray pyrolysis method were investigated. The ZnO:Sr films were highly transparent having polycrystalline hexagonal wurtzite structure. A redshift of 130 meV in the optical band gap was observed owing to atomic size mismatch induced defect states and increase in the crystallite size in ZnO:Sr films. The enhancement of intensity of violet emission in room temperature photoluminescence by 250% is in correlation with the improved surface morphology at higher concentration of Sr in ZnO:Sr thin film. The observed increment in visible emissions is attributed to Sr induced oxygen vacancy related recombination in ZnO.     

Investigation of characteristics of ZnO:Ga nanocrystalline thin films with varying dopant content

In this study, undoped and Ga doped ZnO thin films were synthesized by the sol–gel spin coating technique. The effect of Ga contribution on the structural, morphological and optical properties of the ZnO thin films was examined. XRD results showed that all films had a hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure with polycrystalline nature. The intensity of the (002) peak changed with the variable Ga content. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results revealed that the surface morphology of the ZnO thin films was affected by Ga content. Moreover, it consisted of nanorods as a result of the increased function of the Ga content. Additionally, the presence of Ga contributions was evaluated by energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) measurements. Although the transparency and the optical band gap of the ZnO thin films increased with Ga contribution, Urbach energy values decreased from 221 meV to 98 meV. In addition, these steepness parameters increased with the increased Ga content from 0% to 6%. The correlation between structural and optical properties was investigated and significant consistency was found.     

脉冲激光沉积法制备氧化锌薄膜

ZnO是一种新型的Ⅱ-Ⅵ族半导体材料,具有优良的晶格、光学和电学性能,其显著的特点是在紫外波段存在受激发射。利用脉冲激光沉积法(PLD)在氧气氛中烧蚀锌靶制备了纳米晶氧化锌薄膜,衬底为石英玻璃,晶粒尺寸约为28-35 nm。X射线衍射(XRD)结果和光致发光(PL)光谱的测量表明,当衬底温度在100-250℃范围内时,所获得的ZnO薄膜具有c轴的择优取向,所有样品的强紫外发射中心均在378-385 nm范围内,深能级发射中心约518-558 nm,衬底温度为200℃时,得到了单一的紫外光发射(没有深能级发光)。这归因于其较高的结晶质量。     

ZnSe/ITO thin films:candidate for CdTe solar cell window layer

The crystal structure, electrical and optical properties of ZnSe thin films deposited on an In₂O₃:Sn (ITO) substrate are evaluated for their suitability as the window layer of CdTe thin film solar cells. ZnSe thin films of 80, 90, and 100 nm thickness were deposited by a physical vapor deposition method on Indium tin oxide coated glass substrates. The lattice parameters are increased to 5.834 Å when the film thickness was 100 nm, which is close to that of CdS. The crystallite size is decreased with the increase of film thickness. The optical transmission analysis shows that the energy gap for the sample with the highest thickness has also increased and is very close to 2.7 eV. The photo decay is also studied as a function of ZnSe film thickness.