Role of Different Solvents on the Structure and Optical Properties of Sol Gel Synthesized Cd0.1Zn0.9O Films

Cadmium doped zinc oxide is a promising optical material to enhance the luminescence for possible applications in luminescent devices. The Cd0.1Zn0.9O thin films were deposited on the alumina substrates by the sol gel spin coating method using three different solvents viz. methanol, ethanol and isopropanol. The prepared thin films are preheated at 250° C after each coating and annealed at a temperature of 600° C in muffle furnace. The doping of cadmium is confirmed by XRD analysis and samples were found to have hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure. The grain size of the samples lies between 45 to 49 nm. All the samples show high transparency (>80) and direct band gap between 3.14 eV to 3.19 eV. These results suggest the applicability of these nanostructured films as transparent conductors in various solid state devices. Keywords— ZnO thin films, Spin Coating, XRD, optical