Synthesis and Optical Properties of Sprayed ZnO and ZnO:Ga Thin Films

Abstract

Characteristics and optical constants of pure and Ga-doped ZnO thin films have been studied. Pure and Ga-doped zinc oxide thin films were deposited onto glass substrates using the spray pyrolysis technique. Optical absorption studies in the wavelength range of 300–900 nm showed a peak near 450 nm for different doped films (in addition to the peak for un-doped ZnO). Increasing the doping concentration of Ga to 7% induced an increase in the optical constants of films. This increase is attributed to the formation of chargetransfer complexes. ZnO thin films doped with Ga have improved the optical transmittance in the visible region. The addition of Ga also induced an obvious increase in the optical band gap of these films; the optical band gap of Ga-doped films was slightly higher than that of undoped samples (3.1 eV). This study also found that the highest band gap (Eg=3.4 eV) occurred for the film deposited with a doping concentration of 5% gallium.