Structural and Optical Characterization of Sprayed nanostructured Indium Doped Fe2O3 Thin Films

Abstract

Nanostructured pure and Indium doped iron oxide thin films were deposited via spray pyrolysis technique (SPT). The effects of Indium (2 and % 4) concentration was studied. X-ray diffraction patterns disclosed that Fe2O3 films have a rhombohedral crystalline of α-Fe2O3 phase and their crystallite size was vary from (12.13 – 13.84) nm with Indium content. The strain(%) parameter decrease from 28.57 to 25.04, AFM images of films show changes in morphology with decreased in surface roughness from 2.75 nm to 1.7 nm with Indium 4% doping, The 3-D images and grain size distribution are illustrated that they exhibit spherical nano-grains ranged from 72.72 nm for pure Indium to 51.22 nm for 4% Indium doped Fe2O3. The transmittance decreases with increasing Indium concentration. The bandgap energy of Fe2O3 thin film was 2.75 eV and it decreases to 2.55 eV for Fe2O3:4% In.