Structural properties of pure and Sn doped ZnO thin film prepared using sol-gel method

Abstract

In this work, the pure ZnO and Sn doped ZnO thin films with different volume ratios (2, 4, 6, and 8V/V) of tin chloride have been successfully prepared by using sol-gel method. The structural properties were investigated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Atomic force microscope (AFM). The results showed that, pure ZnO and Sn doped ZnO thin films have polycrystalline in nature with hexagonal structure. The structure have different plane at (1 1 1),(0 0 2),(1 0 1),(1 0 2),(1 1 0),(1 0 3),(1 1 2) belong to 2θ of 31.64, 34.30,36.13, 47.43, 56.49, 62.73, 67.83 respectively. The orientation of (002) at 2θ = 34.30 has a narrow FWHM, low strain, and crystalline size equal to 4.913, 3.683, 3.686, 2.455, and4.911 respectively for pure, Sn doped ZnO. Particle shapes were spherical granules morphology for all samples. The AFM images showed that the size of the grains on the surface of thin films increases with the increase in the concentration of impurity which agreement with the SEM results.