SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION AND OPTOELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF ANNEALED ZINC OXIDE (ZnO) NANOPARTICLE THIN FILMS USING SILAR METHOD

摘要

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nano-polycrystalline thin films were successfully deposited by Successive Ionic Layer Adsorption and Reaction (SILAR) technique at room temperature. The various preparative parameters were optimized to obtain good quality films. The as-grown films were annealed at different temperatures for few hours in air. The SILAR technique is based on the alternate immersion of substrate in the alkaline zinc precursor and deionized water. ZnO films were formed through accumulation of ZnO crystal clusters. The synthesis, microstructure and optical properties of ZnO nano-particle thin films were investigated. Prepared thin films exhibit hexagonal wurtzite structure with good surface morphology and optical properties. The result reveals that the as deposited thin films at low annealing temperatures have weak (002) orientation and preferential orientation along (100) plane. The energy band gap of as deposited thin films has value in range 2.6 - 3.9eV. Hence, ZnO is a strategic material for various detection applications.