Production and Characterization of Al-Doped ZnO Thin Films with Sol-Gel Magnetic Spin Coating Technique

Year 2020, Volume: 24 Issue: 1, 172 - 177, 01.02.2020

Mehmet Fatih Gözükızıl Sinan Temel Nurgül Özbay

https://doi.org/10.16984/saufenbilder.618779

Abstract

The continuous
development of electronic device technologies allows more value-added products
to be processed. This increases the need for alternative and economical
semiconductor materials. It is possible to reduce the cost of semiconductor
technology and make it easily accessible with thin films. ZnO thin films have a
wide range of applications from sensors to optoelectronic devices, from biomedical
applications to wearable product technology. In this study, ZnO thin films were
developed by using Sol-Gel Spin Coating method which is simpler than other
methods and by using low cost Sol-Gel Magnetic Spin Coating method which will
be used for the first time in literature. Some physical properties of ZnO thin
films produced by doping 1%, 3% and 5% Al were examined using X-Ray Diffraction
(XRD) Device, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) and UV-Vis
Spectrophotometer. When structural properties were examined, it was seen that
preferential orientation changed and grain size values increased as Al doping
amount increased. When the surface properties were examined, it was seen that a
homogeneous coating was formed on the litter with the technique used. In
addition, FESEM images prove that grain size values increase as the amount of
doping increases. It was determined that the band gap values of thin films
whose optical properties were examined decreased as the amount of doping
increased. As it can be understood from these results, this thin film
production technique, which is used for the first time in the literature, is
able to produce doped thin films more easily and economically.

Keywords

ZnO, Al doping, thin film, sol-gel, magnetic spin coating

References

• [1] Y. M. Hunge, A. A. Yadav, S. B. Kulkarni, and V. L. Mathe, “A multifunctional ZnO thin film based devises for photoelectrocatalytic degradation of terephthalic acid and CO2 gas sensing applications,” Sensors Actuators, B Chem., 2018.
• [2] J. A. Guerrero de León et al., “Influence of the Zn plasma kinetics on the structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films grown by PLD,” SN Appl. Sci., vol. 1, no. 5, p. 475, May 2019.
• [3] H. Zhu, X. Niu, M. Wan, and Y. Mai, “A study of ZnO:Al thin films reactively sputtered under the control of target voltage for application in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film solar cells,” Vacuum, vol. 161, pp. 297–305, Mar. 2019.
• [4] R. Shabannia and A. M. Selman, “Effects of growth temperature on structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films grown chemically on porous silicon substrate,” Chinese J. Phys., vol. 55, no. 6, pp. 2218–2223, Dec. 2017.
• [5] Zhuo Chen, K. Shum, T. Salagaj, Wei Zhang, and K. Strobl, “ZnO thin films synthesized by chemical vapor deposition,” in 2010 IEEE Long Island Systems, Applications and Technology Conference, 2010, pp. 1–6.
• [6] J. Li, J. Xu, Q. Xu, and G. Fang, “Preparation and characterization of Al doped ZnO thin films by sol-gel process,” J. Alloys Compd., 2012.
• [7] F. B. Dergisi, S. Temel, M. Nebi, and D. Peker, “Sol-Gel Döndürerek Kaplama Tekniği ile Saydam İletken ZnO İnce Filmlerin Üretilmesi ve Karakterizasyonu.”Gazi Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Dergisi Part C, 5(3): 51-59, 2017.
• [8] S. Ilican, Y. Çağlar, and M. Çağlar, “CdZnS ve ZnO YARIİLETKEN FİLMLERİNİN YASAK ENERJİ ARALIKLARI.”SAÜ Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi 9.Cilt, 1.Sayı 2005.
• [9] P. Kanmani and J.-W. Rhim, “Properties and characterization of bionanocomposite films prepared with various biopolymers and ZnO nanoparticles,” 2014.
• [10] T. Bhowmick, A. Banerjee, S. Nag, and S. B. Majumder, “Gas Sensing Characteristics in ZnO Thin Film Explicated Through the Analysis of Conductance Transients and the Concept of Activation Energy,” in 2018 IEEE SENSORS, 2018, pp. 1–4.
• [11] C. Yu, W. Zhou, H. Liu, Y. Liu, and D. D. Dionysiou, “Design and fabrication of microsphere photocatalysts for environmental purification and energy conversion,” Chemical Engineering Journal. 2016.
• [12] R. A. Rahman, M. A. Zulkefle, N. M. Nasir, S. H. Herman, and R. I. Alip, “Influence of Phase Change Material Concentration towards ZnO Thin Film for Solar Cell,” in 2018 8th IEEE International Conference on Control System, Computing and Engineering (ICCSCE), 2018, pp. 146–149.
• [13] C. Ling et al., “Oxygen vacancies enhanced photoresponsive performance of ZnO nanoparticles thin film/Si heterojunctions for ultraviolet/infrared photodetector,” J. Alloys Compd., 2019.
• [14] B. Chakraborty, S. Chakrabarty, S. Ghosh, and C. R. Chaudhuri, “High Performance Biosensor Based on RGO/ZnO Thin Film Transistor,” in 2018 IEEE SENSORS, 2018, pp. 1–4.
• [15] S. A. Hasan, H. Torun, D. Gibson, Q. Wu, M. D. Cooke, and Y. Fu, “Flexible UV sensor based on nanostructured ZnO thin film SAW device,” in 2019 IEEE Jordan International Joint Conference on Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (JEEIT), 2019, pp. 85–90.
• [16] L. Duta et al., “ZnO Thin Films Deposited on Textile Material Substrates for Biomedical Applications,” 2012, pp. 207–210.
• [17] A. A. Md Ralib and A. N. Nordin, “Application of Taguchi Signal to Noise Ratio Design Method to ZnO Thin Film CMOS SAW Resonators,” IEEE Access, vol. 7, pp. 27993–28000, 2019.
• [18] S. Ishak et al., “Characteristic study of doped ZnO thin film,” in IEEE International Conference on Semiconductor Electronics, Proceedings, ICSE, 2018.
• [19] J. Claypoole, M. Altwerger, S. Flottman, and H. Efstathiadis, “Characterization of N type Si doped ZnO and ZnO thin films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering,” in 2018 IEEE Nanotechnology Symposium (ANTS), 2018, pp. 1–4.
• [20] T. X. Fen, A. Legowo, A. Shaitir, and A. G. Edy Sutjipto, “Study on the Effect of Mg Dopant on the Properties of ZnO Thin Film Prepared by Sol Gel,” in 2019 Advances in Science and Engineering Technology International Conferences (ASET), 2019, pp. 1–8.
• [21] L. Xu, F. Xian, Y. Zhang, and L. Zhang, “Surface segregation of Ag and its effect on the microstructure, optical properties and conduction type of ZnO thin films,” Phys. B Condens. Matter, 2019.
• [22] D. Ali et al., “Synthesis and characterization of sol-gel derived La and Sm doped ZnO thin films: A solar light photo catalyst for methylene blue,” Thin Solid Films, vol. 679, pp. 86–98, Jun. 2019.
• [23] T. Potlog et al., “Synthesis and Properties of Al-doped ZnO Thin Films for Photovoltaics,” in 4th International Conference on Nano Electronics Research and Education: Toward Advanced Imaging Science Creation, ICNERE 2018, 2019.
• [24] L. Meng, X. Yang, and T. Yang, “Self-flattened ZnO:Al transparent conductive thin films derived by sol-gel process,” IEEE J. Photovoltaics, 2018.
• [25] N. E. A. Azhar et al., “Effect of ZnO Composition on the Electrical Properties of MEH-PPV: ZnO Nanocomposites Thin film via Spin Coating,” in 2018 IEEE International Conference on Semiconductor Electronics (ICSE), 2018, pp. 136–139.
• [26] Z. H. Li, E. S. Cho, and S. J. Kwon, “Mg-doped ZnO thin films deposited by the atomic layer chemical vapor deposition for the buffer layer of CIGS solar cell,” Appl. Surf. Sci., 2014.
• [27] M. Fiaz Khan et al., “Effect of Au ion beam on structural, surface, optical and electrical properties of ZnO thin films prepared by RF sputtering,” Ceram. Int., vol. 44, no. 14, pp. 16464–16469, Oct. 2018.
• [28] L. Xu, G. Zheng, F. Xian, and J. Su, “The morphological evolution of ZnO thin films by Sn ions doping and its influence on the surface energy and photocatalytic activity,” Mater. Chem. Phys., vol. 229, pp. 215–225, May 2019.
• [29] B. D. Cullity and S. R. Stock, Elements of x-ray diffraction. Prentice Hall, 2001.
• [30] J. Tauc, “Amorphous and liquid semiconductors”, Plenum, New York, 1976.