EFFECT OF CARRIER GAS AND VACUUM ANNEALING ON THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF ZnO THIN FILMS DOPED WITH GALLIUM BY CHEMICAL SPRAY PYROLYSIS

Abstract

Structural, optical and electrical properties of zinc oxide thin films doped with 2% Ga, annealed in the vacuum at the same temperature and obtained onto glass substrates by the chemical spray pyrolysis method in the different gas atmospheres were investigated by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), UV-VIS spectrophotometry and Hall measurements, respectively. XRD studies revealed that all films were polycrystalline in nature, with a hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure and a predominant (002) c-axis orientation. All ZnO:Ga thin films had higher than 80 % transmittances in the visible region. Doping with 2% Ga led to a decrease in the optical band gap indifferent of the nature of the carrier gas. The synthesis of ZnO thin films with 2% Ga doping and annealing in the same conditions in Ar and O2 atmospheres led to the lower conductivity with electron concentration of 1016 cm−3.