Improving the optical and electrical properties of Zinc Oxide thin film by Cupric Oxide dopant

Abstract

Abstract : ZnO and ZnO/CuO nanocomposite were successfully synthesized by Sol-Gel technique. The crystal structure was investigated by X- ray diffraction technique and the molecular structure was studied by Fourier transformation infrared. Atomic force microscopy was used to study the topological properties of the prepared thin films. The optical properties were studied and the optical band gap were evaluated from the x-axis intercepts at (αhυ) 2 =0 and found to be decreased from 3.27 to 3.26 eV as the dopant increased. ZnO and ZnO/CuO nanocomposite were used as interfacial layer on schottky diode. The technical parameters such as ideality factor and the barrier height were found to be increased from 3.7 to 6.5 and from 0.59 to 0.62 eV respectively as the dopant were increased. Keywords: ZnO; CuO; Composite; optical Properties; Schottky diode; I. Introduction Nanostructured metal-oxide semiconductor materials have been widely studied due to their electronic, optical, optoelectronic properties and potential applications in nanoscale devices. These materials offer many new opportunities to study fundamental surface processes in a controlled manner and this, in turn, leads to fabrication of new devices. Great interest has been shown in the preparation of nanomaterials, particularly oxides. Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) such as Zinc Oxide (ZnO), Cadmium Oxide (CdO), Tin Oxide (SnO