Preparation of manganese-doped ZnO thin films and their characterization

In this study, pure and manganese-doped zinc oxide (Mn:ZnO) thin films were deposited on quartz substrate following successive ion layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) technique. The film growth rate was found to increase linearly with number of dipping cycle. Characterization techniques of XRD, SEM with EDX and UV–visible spectra measurement were done to investigate the effect of Mn doping on the structural and optical properties of Mn:ZnO thin films. Structural characterization by X-ray diffraction reveals that polycrystalline nature of the films increases with increasing manganese incorporation. Particle size evaluated using X-ray line broadening analysis shows decreasing trend with increasing manganese impurification. The average particle size for pure ZnO is 29·71 nm and it reduces to 23·76 nm for 5% Mn-doped ZnO. The strong preferred c-axis orientation is lost due to manganese (Mn) doping. The degree of polycrystallinity increases and the average microstrain in the films decreases with increasing Mn incorporation. Incorporation of Mn was confirmed from elemental analysis using EDX. As the Mn doping concentration increases the optical bandgap of the films decreases for the range of Mn doping reported here. The value of fundamental absorption edge is 3·22 eV for pure ZnO and it decreases to 3·06 eV for 5% Mn:ZnO.