Abstract
Nanocrystalline zinc oxide (nc-ZnO) thin films were grown on p-type silicon substrate through spin coating by sol-gel process using different sol concentrations (10 wt.%, 15 wt.%, and 25 wt.%). These films were characterized by high resolution nondestructive X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS) attachment, and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) techniques to understand variations in structural, morphological, and oxygen vacancy with respect to sol concentration. The film surface morphology changes from nanowall to nanorods on increasing sol concentration. EPR spectra revealed the systematic variation from ferromagnetic to paramagnetic nature in these nc-ZnO films. The broad EPR resonance signal arising from the strong dipolar-dipolar interactions among impurity defects present in nc-ZnO film deposited from 10 wt.% sol has been observed and a single strong narrow resonance signal pertaining to oxygen vacancies is obtained in 25 wt.% sol derived nc-ZnO film. The concentrations of impurity defects and oxygen vacancies are evaluated from EPR spectra, necessary for efficient optoelectronic devices development.
Highlights
ZnO is one of the most extensively explored nanomaterials of band gap energy ∼3.37 eV with large exciton binding energy of 60 meV
In Step (3): condensation/polycondensation reaction form chain of Zn-O with terminal OH groups. These three steps are represented by the following chemical equations: (1) Hydrolysis reaction takes place on dissolution of zinc acetate in water: 2Zn (CH3COO)2 + H2O
Nanocrystalline zinc oxide thin films were grown on silicon substrate by sol-gel method with different sol concentrations
Summary
ZnO is one of the most extensively explored nanomaterials of band gap energy ∼3.37 eV with large exciton binding energy of 60 meV. Nc-ZnO films were deposited on pretreated p-type Si (100) wafer via spin coating technique by using 10 wt.%, 15 wt.%, and 25 wt.% zinc acetate sol concentration. The aim of the present studies was to deposit nc-ZnO thin films from different sol concentration and characterize their structural, morphological, optical, and paramagnetic defects/impurities variations by XRD, SEM, and EPR techniques.
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