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Effect of Al Incorporation on the Structural and Optical Properties of Sol–Gel AZO Thin Films

ZnO and Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films were prepared using the sol–gel method and deposited on a Silicon (Si(100)) substrate using the dipping technique. The structure, morphology, thickness, optical constants in the spectral range 300–1700 nm, bandgap (E(g)) and photoluminescence (PL) properties of...

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Autores principales: Stroescu, Hermine, Nicolescu, Madalina, Mitrea, Daiana, Tenea, Ecaterina, Atkinson, Irina, Anastasescu, Mihai, Calderon-Moreno, Jose Maria, Gartner, Mariuca
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10179613/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37176212
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma16093329
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author Stroescu, Hermine
Nicolescu, Madalina
Mitrea, Daiana
Tenea, Ecaterina
Atkinson, Irina
Anastasescu, Mihai
Calderon-Moreno, Jose Maria
Gartner, Mariuca
author_facet Stroescu, Hermine
Nicolescu, Madalina
Mitrea, Daiana
Tenea, Ecaterina
Atkinson, Irina
Anastasescu, Mihai
Calderon-Moreno, Jose Maria
Gartner, Mariuca
author_sort Stroescu, Hermine
collection PubMed
description ZnO and Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films were prepared using the sol–gel method and deposited on a Silicon (Si(100)) substrate using the dipping technique. The structure, morphology, thickness, optical constants in the spectral range 300–1700 nm, bandgap (E(g)) and photoluminescence (PL) properties of the films were analyzed using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), Raman analysis and PL spectroscopy. The results of the structure and morphology analyses showed that the thin films are polycrystalline with a hexagonal wurtzite structure, as well as continuous and homogeneous. The PL background and broader peaks observable in the Raman spectra of the AZO film and the slight increase in the optical band gap of the AZO thin film, compared to undoped ZnO, highlight the effect of defects introduced into the ZnO lattice and an increase in the charge carrier density in the AZO film. The PL emission spectra of the AZO thin film showed a strong UV line corresponding to near-band-edge ZnO emission along with weak green and red emission bands due to deep-level defects, attributed to the oxygen-occupied zinc vacancies (O(Zn) lattice defects).
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spelling pubmed-101796132023-05-13 Effect of Al Incorporation on the Structural and Optical Properties of Sol–Gel AZO Thin Films Stroescu, Hermine Nicolescu, Madalina Mitrea, Daiana Tenea, Ecaterina Atkinson, Irina Anastasescu, Mihai Calderon-Moreno, Jose Maria Gartner, Mariuca Materials (Basel) Article ZnO and Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films were prepared using the sol–gel method and deposited on a Silicon (Si(100)) substrate using the dipping technique. The structure, morphology, thickness, optical constants in the spectral range 300–1700 nm, bandgap (E(g)) and photoluminescence (PL) properties of the films were analyzed using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), Raman analysis and PL spectroscopy. The results of the structure and morphology analyses showed that the thin films are polycrystalline with a hexagonal wurtzite structure, as well as continuous and homogeneous. The PL background and broader peaks observable in the Raman spectra of the AZO film and the slight increase in the optical band gap of the AZO thin film, compared to undoped ZnO, highlight the effect of defects introduced into the ZnO lattice and an increase in the charge carrier density in the AZO film. The PL emission spectra of the AZO thin film showed a strong UV line corresponding to near-band-edge ZnO emission along with weak green and red emission bands due to deep-level defects, attributed to the oxygen-occupied zinc vacancies (O(Zn) lattice defects). MDPI 2023-04-24 /pmc/articles/PMC10179613/ /pubmed/37176212 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma16093329 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Stroescu, Hermine
Nicolescu, Madalina
Mitrea, Daiana
Tenea, Ecaterina
Atkinson, Irina
Anastasescu, Mihai
Calderon-Moreno, Jose Maria
Gartner, Mariuca
Effect of Al Incorporation on the Structural and Optical Properties of Sol–Gel AZO Thin Films
title Effect of Al Incorporation on the Structural and Optical Properties of Sol–Gel AZO Thin Films
title_full Effect of Al Incorporation on the Structural and Optical Properties of Sol–Gel AZO Thin Films
title_fullStr Effect of Al Incorporation on the Structural and Optical Properties of Sol–Gel AZO Thin Films
title_full_unstemmed Effect of Al Incorporation on the Structural and Optical Properties of Sol–Gel AZO Thin Films
title_short Effect of Al Incorporation on the Structural and Optical Properties of Sol–Gel AZO Thin Films
title_sort effect of al incorporation on the structural and optical properties of sol–gel azo thin films
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10179613/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37176212
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma16093329
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