Influence of gadolinium doping on the crystalline structure and optical properties of zinc oxide thin films

This report represents an experimental investigation on the structural and optical modification of ZnO thin films towards the Gd dopant content, whereby the desired films were deposited on glass substrates by chemical solution method. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and surface profiler. The optical properties were studied by UV-Visible spectroscopy technique. The influence of Gd dopant on structural and optical properties of the prepared thin films were investigated and discussed based on the structure modification and band gap of undoped and Gd-doped ZnO thin films.