The role of aluminum doping on structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films prepared by PLD

Abstract

In this work, pure and doped ZnO thin films with different Al wt% concentration were prepared using pulsed laser deposition technique on clean glass substrates at room temperature. Then investigate the effect of Al concentration on the structural and optical properties for the as deposited ZnO thin films. The structure of the prepared ZnO powder and thin films were examined by X-ray diffraction, whereas the optical properties of prepared thin films were characterized and investigated using UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer. The structure of powder and prepared pure and doped ZnO thin films were polycrystalline. Powder, pure and Al doped ZnO thin films were synthesized in hexagonal phase and the dominate orientation is (101). The crystallite size for (101) plane is increased with increasing Al wt%. The optical energy gap of doped ZnO thin film increased with increasing doping weight concentration. These make the prepared films as good candidate for gas sensor.