Facile deposition of ZnO:Cu films: Structural and optical characterization

Sol-gel technology has been applied for preparation of ZnO:Cu films. The proposed facile approach allows obtaining a wide variety of copper doped zinc oxide systems, revealing different structural and optical behaviors. The work presents structural and optical studies depending on Cu concentration and thermal treatments in the range of 500-800°C. The structural analysis is performed by X-Ray diffraction (XRD). It reveals that small Cu addition enhances the film crystallization. Increasing copper concentration results in deterioration of ZnO:Cu crystallization. XRD study manifests no Cu oxide phases in ZnO:Cu film structure for lower Cu additions. For a specific higher copper concentration, an appearance of a small fraction of copper oxide is detected. Vibrational properties have been characterized by FTIR spectroscopy. The effect of the copper introduction into ZnO reveals a slight change of optical properties compared to ZnO films for certain Cu ratios. ZnO:Cu films with higher copper contents manifest different optical behaviors with very high transparency in spectral visible range.