Nanocrystalline grain size in ZnS thin films deposited by chemical bath technique

Thin films of Zinc Sulfide (ZnS) are prepared by Chemical Bath Deposition Technique using aqueous solution of Zinc acetate (Zn (CH₃COO)₂) and thiourea on glass Substrates. The Structural, Surface morphology and Optical properties of these films are investigated. The crystallinity of the thin films was characterized by means of X-ray diffraction and they all turned out to be polycrystalline. SEM studies gives the average grain size to be small (08–130 nm) with an uneven surface feature. From FTIR analysis, films show an optical transmittance more than 70% in the visible range. Optical band gap found from the absorption study is about 3.7 eV. The physical conditions were kept identical while growing all the samples. The investigation of the effect of the synthesis method on the grain size and the effect of grain size on the properties of semiconductor is under consideration.     

溶胶-凝胶方法制备BiFeO3薄膜的微结构和晶粒尺寸效应

使用溶胶凝胶法在Pt/Ti/SiO_2/Si衬底上生长不同厚度与不同稀土掺杂(Nd,Ce,La)的BiFeO_3(BFO)薄膜,高分辨X射线衍射实验结果表明薄膜是由无择优取向的多晶成份组成,不同厚度和掺杂的薄膜都呈现三方相。对比不同厚度BF0薄膜的结构发现,随着薄膜厚度的增加,薄膜的晶粒尺寸呈现增大的趋势,同时晶格常数也随之增大;比较不同掺杂的薄膜,发现随掺杂原子的离子半径增大(Nd,Ce,La),薄膜的晶粒尺寸随之减小,同时薄膜的晶格参数变小。这些结果表明在BFO薄膜中存在晶粒尺寸效应,BFO的晶格随着晶粒尺寸的增大而增大。     

Anomalous behavior in ZnMgO thin films deposited by sol-gel method

The magnesium doped zinc oxide is a promising optical material to enhance the luminescence for possible application in solid state lighting. Magnesium doped zinc oxide thin films (Zn_0.85Mg_0.15O) were deposited by sol-gel route on p-type silicon and annealed at different temperatures in oxygen environment for an hour. The doping of magnesium in zinc oxide was confirmed by X-Ray diffraction and the samples were found to have wurtzite crystal structure with (002) preferred orientation. The films were characterized by Hall-effect, atomic force microscopy, UV-VIS spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) and work function measurements. The different studies exhibited an anomalous behavior for the film annealed at 900 °C. The Hall effect, work function measurements and UV-VIS spectroscopy indicated that the resistivity, work function and optical band gap increased as a function of annealing temperature (from 300 °C to 700 °C) however these parameters were found to decrease for the films annealed above 700 °C. The particle size increased with the annealing but for the samples annealed at 900 °C, the shape of the grains changed and became elongated like fibers as observed by the atomic force microscopy. The PL measurements displayed the existence of oxygen vacancies defects for the samples annealed at and above 600 °C. The possible mechanism for this anomaly has been discussed in this work.     

Low resistivity transparent conducting CdO thin films deposited by DC reactive magnetron sputtering at room temperature

Transparent conducting cadmium oxide (CdO) films were deposited on PET (polyethylene terephthalate) substrate by DC reactive magnetron sputtering at room temperature. All the films deposited at room temperature were polycrystalline in rock-salt structure. Dependences of the physical properties of the CdO films on the oxygen partial pressure were systematically studied. The films deposited at low oxygen flow rate were (200) oriented, while the films deposited at an oxygen flow rate greater than 20 sccm were (111) oriented. The average grain size of the CdO films decreased as the oxygen flow rate increases as determined by XRD and SEM. The Hall effect measurement showed that CdO films have high concentration, low resistivity, and high mobility. Both the mobility and the concentration of the carrier decreased with the increase of the oxygen flow rate. A minimum sheet resistance of 36.1 Ω/□, or a lowest resistivity of 5.44 × 10^− 4 Ω cm (6.21 × 10²⁰/cm³, μ = 19.2 cm²/Vs) was obtained for films deposited at an oxygen flow rate of 10 sccm.     

Size dependent optical characteristics of chemically deposited nanostructured ZnS thin films

ZnS thin films of different thicknesses were prepared by chemical bath deposition using thiourea and zinc acetate as S²⁻ and Zn²⁺ source. The effect of film thickness on the optical and structural properties was studied. The optical absorption studies in the wavelength range 250–750 nm show that band gap energy of ZnS increases from 3·68–4·10 eV as thickness varied from 332–76 nm. The structural estimation shows variation in grain size from 6·9–17·8 nm with thickness. The thermoemf measurement indicates that films prepared by this method are of n-type.     

Thickness dependent electrical properties of CdO thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis method

A large number of thin films of cadmium oxide have been prepared on glass substrates by spray pyrolysis method. The prepared films have uniform thickness varying from 200–600 nm and good adherence to the glass substrate. A systematic study has been made on the influence of thickness on resistivity, sheet resistance, carrier concentration and mobility of the films. The resistivity, sheet resistance, carrier concentration and mobility values varied from 1·56–5·72×10⁻³ Ω-cm, 128–189 Ω/□, 1·6–3·9×10²¹ cm⁻³ and 0·3–3 cm²/Vs, respectively for varying film thicknesses. A systematic increase in mobility with grain size clearly indicates the reduction of overall scattering of charge carriers at the grain boundaries. The large concentration of charge carriers and low mobility values have been attributed to the presence of Cd as an impurity in CdO microcrystallites. Using the optical transmission data, the band gap was estimated and found to vary from 2·20–2·42 eV. These films have transmittance around 77% and average reflectance is below 2·6% in the spectral range 350–850 nm. The films aren-type and polycrystalline in nature. SEM micrographs of the CdO films were taken and the films exhibit clear grains and grain boundary formation at a substrate temperature as low as 523 K.     

Optical characterization of ZnO thin films deposited by Sol-gel method

In this paper, ZnO thin film is deposited on Pt/TiO₂/SiO₂/Si substrate using the sol-gel method and the effect of annealing temperature on the structural morphology and optical properties of ZnO thin films is investigated. The ZnO thin films are crystallized by the heat treatment at over 400°C. The ZnO thin film annealed at 600°C exhibits the greatest c-axis orientation and the Full-Width-Half-Maximum (FWHM) of X-ray peak is 0.4360°. A dense ZnO thin film is deposited by the growth of uniform grains with the increase of annealing temperature but when the annealing temperature increases to 700°C, the surface morphology of ZnO thin film becomes worse by the aggregation of ZnO particles. In the results of surface morphology of ZnO thin film using atomic force microscope (AFM), the surface roughness of ZnO thin film annealed at 600°C is smallest, that is, approximately 1.048 nm. For the PL characteristics of ZnO thin film, it is observed that ZnO thin film annealed at 600°C exhibits the greatest UV (ultraviolet) exciton emission at approximately 378 nm, and the smallest visible emission at approximately 510 nm among ZnO thin films annealed at various temperatures. It is deduced that ZnO thin film annealed at 600°C is formed most stoichiometrically, since the visible emission at approximately 510 nm comes from either oxygen vacancies or impurities.     

Temperature dependent grain-size and microstrain of CdO thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis method

CdO thin films on glass substrate were prepared by home built spray pyrolysis unit from aqueous solution of Cd(CH₃COO)₂·2H₂O at different substrate temperatures. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies indicate the formation of polycrystalline cubic CdO phase with preferential orientation along (111) plane. X-ray line broadening technique is adopted to study the effect of substrate temperature on microstructural parameters such as grain size and microstrain. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows that the film prepared at 250°C consists of spherical shape grains with size in nanometer range and is comparable with the XRD studies.     

Porous nanostructured ZnO films deposited by picosecond laser ablation

Porous nanostructured polycrystalline ZnO films, free of large particulates, were deposited by picosecond laser ablation. Using a Zn target, zinc oxide films were deposited on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates using a picosecond Nd:YVO₄ laser (8 ps, 50 kHz, 532 nm, 0.17 J/cm²) in an oxygen atmosphere at room temperature (RT). The morpho-structural characteristics of ZnO films deposited at different oxygen pressures (150–900 mTorr) and gas flow rates (0.25 and 10 sccm) were studied. The post-deposition influence of annealing (250–550 °C) in oxygen on the film characteristics was also investigated. At RT, a mixture of Zn and ZnO formed. At substrate temperatures above 350 °C, the films were completely oxidized, containing a ZnO wurtzite phase with crystallite sizes of 12.2–40.1 nm. At pressures of up to 450 mTorr, the porous films consisted of well-distinguished primary nanoparticles with average sizes of 45–58 nm, while at higher pressures, larger clusters (3.1–14.7 μm) were dominant, leading to thicker films; higher flow rates favored clustering.     

Hardness and grain size relations for thick chromium films deposited by hallow cathode discharge

Chromium films deposited by hollow cathode discharge show a variety of hardness, wear resistance and anti-corrosion characteristics. To find the relation between these properties and the film structure, investigations using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy were carried out for a variety of substrate bias voltages.Films deposited by hollow cathode discharge at 190°C and biased at 0 V and ?50 V and an electrochemically plated hard chromium film were compared by measurements of the Vickers microhardness and the line broadening of the (222)Cr line of X-ray diffraction after vacuum annealing at several temperatures. The hardness is approximately proportional to the square root of the line broadening.All the deposited films show a similar relation between hardness and line broadening. The square root of the grain size of these films as observed by TEM is inversely proportional to the hardness. This relation supports an empirical equation obtained by Agarwal et al. who worked with vacuum-deposited NiCr films. The grain size of the films as observed by TEM is several times larger than that calculated from line broadening.     

Electrical,optical and magnetoresistive behavior of nanostructured ZnO:Cu thin films deposited by sputtering

Copper doped ZnO (ZnO:Cu) nanostructured films with magnetoresistive behavior were produced by growing ZnO/Cu/ZnO arrays at room temperature (RT) by the sputtering technique on corning glass substrates. The arrays were made with two electrical insulating ZnO films of 50 and 105 nm, and a Cu film of 5 nm, both materials were deposited at RT by the RF- and DC-sputtering technique, respectively. The processing method involves two stages that proceed in the course of the growth process, the main one is originated by the non-equilibrium regime of the sputtering technique, and the second is the diffusion-redistribution of the intermediate Cu film towards the neighborhood ZnO layers aided by the nanocrystalline films character. The influence of applying an additional annealing stage to the arrays in N₂ atmosphere at 250 and 350 °C by periods of 30 min were studied. The resistivity of the ZnO:Cu films can be varied from 0.0034 to 2.83 Ω-cm, corresponding to electron concentrations of 1.12?×?10²¹ and 7.85?×?10¹⁷ cm^?3 with carrier mobility of 1.6 and 2.8 cm²/V s. Measured changes on the magnetoresistance behavior of the films at RT were of ?R?~?3% for annealed samples with electron concentration of 1.12?×?10²¹ cm^?3. The X-ray diffraction measurements show that the films are comprised of nanocrystallites with dimensions between 13 and 20 nm in size with preferred (002) orientation. The transmittance of the films in the visible region was of 83% with an optical band gap of ~?3.3 eV for the low-resistivity samples.     

YSZ thin films deposited by e-beam technique

YSZ thin films were grown evaporating cubic and tetragonal phase ZrO₂ stabilized by 8 wt.% of Y₂O₃ (8% of YSZ) ceramic powders by using e-beam deposition technique. Operating technical parameters that influence thin film properties were studied. The influence of substrate crystalline structure on growth of deposited YSZ thin film was analyzed there. The YSZ thin films (1.5-2 μm of thickness) were deposited on three different types of substrates: Al₂O₃, optical quartz (SiO₂), and Alloy 600 (Fe-Ni-Cr). The dependence of substrate temperature, electron gun power, and phase of ceramic powder on thin film structure and surface morphology was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The substrate temperature was changed in the range of 20-600° C (during the YSZ thin film deposition) and its influence on the crystallinity of deposited YSZ thin films was analyzed. It was found that electron gun power and substrate temperature has the influence on the crystallite size, and texture of YSZ thin films. Also, the substrate has no influence on the crystal orientation. The crystallite size varied between 20 and 40 nm and increased linearly changing the substrate temperature. The crystal phase of evaporated YSZ powder has the influence on the structure of the deposited YSZ thin films.     

CuInS2 thin films deposited by sol-gel spin-coating method

CuInS₂ thin films were prepared using a sol-gel spin-coating method. Copper acetate monohydrate (Cu(CH₃COO)₂·H₂O) and indium acetate (In(CH₃COO)₃) were dissolved into 2-propanol and 1-propanol, respectively. The two solutions were mixed into a starting solution. The solution was dropped onto glass substrate, rotated at 1500 rpm, and dried at 300 °C for Cu-In as-grown films. The as-grown films were sulfurized inside a graphite container box. A clear chalcopyrite phase was observed without a secondary phase. Surface roughness of the films sulfurized at 500 °C was 19.1 nm. A Raman spectra measurement confirmed that no Cu-S or In-S compounds were created in the thin films.     

Study on spray deposited Ni-doped CuO nanostructured thin films: microstructural and optical behavior

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - In this study, CuO and Ni-doped CuO thin films are deposited on glass substrates at 400 °C by the spray pyrolysis as easy,...     

Oxygen partial pressure dependence of the structural properties of CdO thin films deposited by a modified reactive vacuum evaporation process

Thin films of cadmium oxide were thermally deposited on glass substrates at partial pressures of oxygen, pO₂ in the range 1.33×10⁻² to 0.133 Pa at a substrate temperature of 160 °C. Energy dispersive analysis of X-ray fluorescence (EDAX) revealed that the CdO films deposited at pO₂ value of 4.00×10⁻² Pa were nearly stoichiometric. X-ray diffractometry (XRD) confirmed the polycrystalline nature of the film structure. All the films showed an fcc structure of the NaCl-type, as the dominant phase. The films exhibited preferred orientation along the (1 1 1) diffraction plane. The texture coefficients calculated for the various planes at different oxygen partial pressures (pO₂) indicated that the maximum preferred orientation of the films occurred along the (1 1 1) plane at an oxygen partial pressure of 4.00×10⁻² Pa. This was interpreted in terms of oxygen chemisorption and desorption processes. The lattice parameters determined from the diffraction peaks were in the range 4.655–4.686 Å. The average lattice parameter a₀ found by extrapolation using the Nelson–Riley function was 4.696 Å. Both the lattice parameter and the crystallite size were found to increase with increased partial pressure of oxygen. On the other hand, the strain and dislocation density were found to decrease as the partial pressure of oxygen was raised. A maximum (80%) in the optical transmittance at λ=600 nm and minimum in the electrical resistivity (9.1×10⁻⁴ Ω cm) of the films occurred at an optimum partial pressure of oxygen of 4.00×10⁻² Pa. The results are discussed.     

Optical characterization of vacuum evaporated CdZnTe thin films deposited by a multilayer method

CdZnTe thin films of thickness 450–1400 nm have been evaporated under vacuum onto unheated glass substrates, using a multilayer method. During film deposition, the two evaporation sources, separated by two glass cylinders, were maintained at temperatures of 720 K for Zn and at 925–1200 K for CdTe, respectively. After deposition, the samples were annealed in air up to 775 K. The structural and optical properties of both as-deposited and heat-treated samples were investigated. Depending on the preparation conditions and the annealing temperature, the value of the optical band gap, E_g, of respective films varied between 1.16 and 1.63 eV. The obtained results are discussed in correlation with the structure of the films and the role of Zn atoms in CdTe films.     

Characterization of diamond thin films deposited by a CO2 laser-assisted combustion-flame method

Diamond thin films were deposited by a CO₂ laser-assisted O₂/C₂H₂/C₂H₄ combustion-flame process. The effect of the deposition parameters, in particular the laser wavelength and power, on the film surface morphology, microstructure and phases present was the primary focus of the work. The laser power was set at 100, 400 and 800 W while the wavelength was varied and set at 10.591 µm in the untuned condition and set at 10.532 µm to resonantly match the CH₂-wagging vibrational mode of the C₂H₄ molecule when in the tuned condition. When the laser was coupled to the combustion flame during deposition the diamond film growth was enhanced as the lateral grain size increased from 1 µm to greater than 5 µm. The greatest increase in grain size occurred when the wavelength was in the tuned condition. Scanning transmission electron microscopy images from focused-ion beam cross-sectioned samples revealed a sub-layer of smaller grains less than 1 µm in size near the substrate surface at the lower laser powers and untuned wavelength. X-ray diffraction results showed a more intense Diamond (111) peak as the laser power increased from 100 to 800 W for the films deposited with the tuned laser wavelength. Micro-Raman spectra showed a diamond peak nearly twice as intense from the films with the tuned laser wavelength.     

High coercivity in nanostructured Co-ferrite thin films

Three methods including sol-gel, rf sputtering and pulsed laser deposition (PLD) have been used for the fabrication of high coercivity Co-ferrite thin films with a nanocrystalline structure. The PLD method is demonstrated to be a possible tool to achieve Co-ferrite films with high coercivity and small grain size at low deposition temperature. High coercivity, over 10 kOe, has been successfully achieved in Co-ferrite films with a thickness of ∼ 100 nm deposited using PLD with a substrate temperature at 550°C. The Co-ferrite films prepared by PLD at over 300°C on different substrates including amorphous glass, quartz and silicon exhibits an obvious (111) textured structure and possesses perpendicular anisotropy. Our study has also shown that the high coercivity is related with a large residual strain, which may induce an additional magnetic anisotropy (stress anisotropy) and at the same time serve as pinning centres, which can restrict the domain wall movement and therefore, increase the coercivity.