Title :
Structure and optical characterization of ZnO-Sn thin films
Author :
Kashif, M. ; Hashim, U. ; Ali, Syed M Usman ; Willander, M. ; Ibrar-ul-Haque, M.
Author_Institution :
Inst. of Nano Electron. Eng. (INEE), Univ. Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Kangar, Malaysia
Abstract :
ZnO-Sn thin films were prepared and deposited on p-type silicon substrate using sol-gel method, followed by spin coating technique. The solution consists of zinc acetate dihydrate, tin chloride, 2-methoxyethanol and monoethanolamine which acted as a precursor, dopant, solvent and stabilizer respectively. Effect of different Sn/ZnO molar ratios on the crystallinity and surface morphology of thin films were studied in this research. The molar ratios of Sn/ZnO were maintained to 1%, 3% and 5%. The ZnO-Sn thin films were heated on hotplate at 300 °C for 20 min and then sintered at 500 °C for 2 hrs. The effect of different molar ratios of Sn/ZnO on the surface morphologies and crystalline structure properties of ZnO-Sn thin films were examined using atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD). XRD patterns showed that all doped films have (101) as the preferred orientation. The optical properties showed that the film with Sn/ZnO molar ratio of 3% having the optical transmittance of more than 80%, which was more than other doped films of our experiment. The FTER spectrum shows that at Sn/ZnO molar ratio of 5%, the intensity of ZnO peak is very weak and that may be due to the incorporation of Sn with the ZnO structure.
Keywords :
Fourier transform spectra; II-VI semiconductors; X-ray diffraction; atomic force microscopy; crystal structure; heat treatment; infrared spectra; semiconductor doping; semiconductor thin films; sintering; sol-gel processing; spin coating; surface morphology; texture; tin; ultraviolet spectra; visible spectra; wide band gap semiconductors; zinc compounds; 2-methoxyethanol; AFM; FTIR; Fourier transform infrared spectra; Si; X-ray diffraction; XRD; ZnO:Sn; atomic force microscopy; crystal structure; crystallinity; film doping; heat treatment; hot plate; infrared spectra; monoethanolamine; optical properties; optical transmittance; p-type silicon substrates; preferred orientation; sintering; sol-gel method; spin coating; structural properties; surface morphology; temperature 300 degC; temperature 500 degC; thin films; time 2 hr; time 20 min; tin chloride; ultraviolet-visible spectra; zinc acetate dihydrate; X-ray scattering; Zinc oxide;
Conference_Titel :
Multitopic Conference (INMIC), 2011 IEEE 14th International
Conference_Location :
Karachi
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4577-0654-7
DOI :
10.1109/INMIC.2011.6151469