Abstract
Abstract Thorium dioxide (ThO2) thin films were deposited by the spray pyrolysis technique onto a glass substrate maintained in the temperature range 100–350 °C by using thorium nitrate as a starting solution. Structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties have been investigated. The results of FTIR showed that thorium nitrate is completely decomposed to ThO2 at 350 °C, via two unstable intermediates. XRD patterns showed that the films deposited at Ts (1 1 1) direction. The film growth was investigated experimentally by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The dark resistivity was of the order of 10 6 Ω cm. The activation energy was found to be 0.81 eV. The optical parameters such as refractive index, absorption coefficient, energy gap width have also been determined. The energy of the effective dispersion oscillator and the dispersion energy which measures the average strength of interband optical transitions were found to be 6.62 and 3.04 eV, respectively, and the dielectric constant, e∝, was found to be 3.17. The free-carrier concentration Nopt have also been determined.
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