On the Structural, Optical and Electrical Characterization of Zinc Oxide and Aluminium doped Zinc Oxide for Optoelectronic Applications

Authors

  • Adedokun Oluwaseun Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, PMB4000, Ogbomoso
  • Akinlade Johson Adetunji Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, PMB4000, Ogbomoso
  • Busari Debora Ibironke Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, PMB4000, Ogbomoso
  • Adedeji Olufunke Lydia Department of Chemical Science, Yaba College of Technology, Yaba
  • Ismalia Taiwo Bello Department of Physics, CSET, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, 1709, South Africa, Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, PMB4000,Ogbomoso, Nigeria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26713/jamcnp.v7i1.1368

Keywords:

Sol-gel, Spin coating, AZO thin films, Film thickness, Optical properties

Abstract

Zinc Oxide (ZnO) and Aluminium doped Zinc Oxide (AZO) thin films are deposited on the glass slides by sol-gel spin coating technique. Zinc acetate dehydrate, 2 methoxyethanol, and diethanolamine are respectively used as a precursor, solvent, and stabilizer. Aluminium nitrate nonahydrate was used as the dopant source to obtain the atomic percentage of the dopant of 2%, 4%, 6% and 8%. The structural, optical, and electrical properties of the films were investigated using X-ray Diffraction (XRD), UV-visible spectrophotometry, and a Four-point probe technique respectively. The results from structural analyses show that the films are polycrystalline with a hexagonal wurtzite structure and a preferential orientation alongside the \(c\)-axis. The value obtained for the unit cell \(a=3.020\) A and \(c= 5.108\) A are in line with the reported literature. The transmittance of the films was observed within the visible region of the spectrum and the optical bandgap of the un-doped ZnO was established to be around 4.11 eV. However, the optical bandgap of the AZO films (4 and 6 at %) marginally decreases with doping concentration, which may be ascribed to the shrinkage of band effect due to the increase in carrier concentration. The lowest resistivity of \(3.53\times {10}^{-3}\,\Omega\) cm was observed for the doping concentration of 2% of Al. From the results, it was established that as the doping concentration increases, the thicknesses of the thin films were increased. Likewise, the increase in doping leads to a better uniformly distributed absorption spectra of the deposited AZO thin films.

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Published

2020-04-30
CITATION

How to Cite

Oluwaseun, A., Adetunji, A. J., Ibironke, B. D., Lydia, A. O., & Bello, I. T. (2020). On the Structural, Optical and Electrical Characterization of Zinc Oxide and Aluminium doped Zinc Oxide for Optoelectronic Applications. Journal of Atomic, Molecular, Condensed Matter and Nano Physics, 7(1), 25–33. https://doi.org/10.26713/jamcnp.v7i1.1368

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2020)

Section

Research Article

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