Investigation of chemical bath deposition of ZnO thin films using six different complexing agents

    Authors

    H. Khallaf; G. Y. Chai; O. Lupan; H. Heinrich; S. Park; A. Schulte;L. Chow

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    J. Phys. D-Appl. Phys.

    Keywords

    ZINC-OXIDE; SOLAR-CELLS; PEROXIDE; DECOMPOSITION; NANOPARTICLES; MORPHOLOGY; EFFICIENCY; GROWTH; LAYER; XPS; Physics, Applied

    Abstract

    Chemical bath deposition of ZnO thin films using six different complexing agents, namely ammonia, hydrazine, ethanolamine, methylamine, triethanolamine and dimethylamine, is investigated. As-grown films were mainly ZnO(2) with a band gap around 4.3 eV. Films annealed at 400 degrees C were identified as ZnO with a band gap around 3.3 eV. X-ray diffraction and micro-Raman spectroscopy revealed that as-grown films consist mainly of cubic zinc peroxide that was transformed into hexagonal ZnO after annealing. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) detected excess oxygen content in ZnO films after annealing. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of as-grown films showed a broad absorption band around 3300 cm(-1) suggesting that the as-grown films may consist of a mixture of zinc peroxide and zinc hydroxide. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy multiplex spectra of the O 1s peak were found to be consistent with film stoichiometry revealed by RBS. High-resolution transmission electron micrographs showed small variations of the order of 10 nm in film thickness which corresponds to the average grain size. A carrier density as high as 2.24 x 10(19) cm(-3) and a resistivity as low as 6.48 x 10(-1) Omega cm were obtained for films annealed at 500 degrees C in argon ambient.

    Journal Title

    Journal of Physics D-Applied Physics

    Volume

    42

    Issue/Number

    13

    Publication Date

    1-1-2009

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    8

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000267219000035

    ISSN

    0022-3727

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