Structural, electrical and optical studies on spray-deposited aluminium-doped ZnO thin films

Thin films of zinc oxide (ZnO) were deposited on cleaned glass substrates by chemical spray pyrolysis technique using Zn(CH3COO)2 as precursor solution. Also, aluminium-doped thin films of ZnO were prepared by using AlCl3 as doping solution for aluminium. The dopant concentration [Al/Zn atomic percentage (at%)] was varied from 0 to 1.5 at% in thin films of ZnO prepared in different depositions. Structural characterization of the deposited films was performed with X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies. It confirmed that all the films were of zinc oxide having polycrystalline nature and possessing typical hexagonal wurtzite structure with crystallite size varying between 100.7 and 268.6 nm. The films exhibited changes in relative intensities and crystallite size with changes in the doping concentration of Al. The electrical studies established that 1 at% of Al-doping was the optimum for enhancing electrical conduction in ZnO thin films and beyond that the distortion caused in the lattice lowered the conductivity. The films also exhibited distinct changes in their optical properties at different doping concentrations, including a blue shift and slight widening of bandgap with increasing Al dopant concentration.