Influence of triethanolamine in the deposition of Mn-doped ZnO thin films by the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction process

Abstract

The successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method was used to prepare Mn-doped ZnO whose deposition was achieved by the complexation action of triethanolamine with Mn in the adsorption bath. The resulting films had the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO with a remarkable poly-crystallization as consequence of the substitution of Mn in Zn sites, as confirmed by the X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy technique. The presence of Mn2+ and Mn4+ produced a change on the growth kinetics of the ZnO films. Undoped ZnO films were formed by flower-like particles. Meanwhile those doped with Mn were formed by the homogeneous distribution of packed spherical particles. These films were specular and had good optical transparency with average transmittances in the range of 79.26–83.35%. In addition, the optical band gap values of the Mn-doped ZnO films were in the range of 3.15–3.32 eV.