Structural, electrical and optical properties of sol–gel derived yttrium doped ZnO films

Abstract

Abstract Undoped and yttrium doped zinc oxide thin films have been deposited on corning glass by dip coating technique. The effect of doping (0–4 wt%) and annealing temperature (300–500 °C) on the structural, optical and electrical properties of the produced films have been investigated. All the films show polycrystalline nature at an annealing temperature of 350 °C. The preferential c ‐axis growth with lowest full width at half maximum of (002) reflection peak is seen only up to an optimum annealing temperature. A blue shift in the absorption edge is observed both, with increase in dopant concentration and annealing temperature. The electrical resistivity of the films decreases by doping with yttrium. The lowest resistivity of 3.5 × 10 –2 Ω cm and an average transmittance of 86% in the visible range has been obtained in YZO films doped with 3 wt% of yttrium and annealed at 450 °C. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)