Effect of increasing Fe-concentrations on ZnO thin film deposited by sol-gel spin coater.

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Menoufia University, Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Physics and Mathematical Engineering Department, 32952 Menouf, Egypt.

2 National Research Centre, Solid state physics department, Physics Research Institute, Dokki, Giza, Egypt, Affiliation ID: 60014618

Abstract

To produce transparent thin films of undoped and Fe-loaded zinc oxide (ZnO) referred to as ZTF, Z (15-30 %F), the current study utilizes a modified sol-gel spin coating method (Zn-Fe). Both undoped and Fe-loaded ZnO thin films were annealed at 5000C for 2 hours. The morphologies and the structural characteristics of pure and doped ZnO thin films were studied. The structure of the resulting films was investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra, revealing good crystal quality and a pure hexagonal wurtzite ZnO structure free of Fe-associated phases. The crystallite size of undoped ZnO thin film is 10.47 nm, and it decreases when the Fe content is increased to 25 mol. %, then it returns to increase at 30 mol. %, giving the following values 10.37, 9.66, 8.26, and 15.59 nm, respectively. Plane images were taken with a field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) revealing spherical particles and smooth surface shapes in the ZnO thin film, whilst Fe-loaded ZnO films have a uniform and compact morphology. The Laser-based Raman micro-spectroscopy presents the homogenous distribution of the iron oxide. The optical properties of thin films, such as transmittance (T %) and the absorption coefficient obtained from the absorbance spectrum were determined using UV/vis spectroscopy. The T% of ZTF film exhibited an average value of nearly 97% and reduced when the Fe concentrations were increased. ZTF, Z15FTF, Z20FTF, Z25FTF, and Z30FTF have energy band gaps of 3.138, 3.234, 3.240, 3.242, 2.936eV, respectively.

Keywords

Main Subjects


Volume 65, Issue 132 - Serial Number 13
Special Issue: Chemistry and Global Challenges (Part B)
December 2022
Pages 949-957
  • Receive Date: 11 August 2022
  • Revise Date: 19 August 2022
  • Accept Date: 31 August 2022