Effect of different technological approaches on the optical properties of ZnO sol-gel thin films

The work presents a sol-gel approach with two types of solvents for ZnO films deposition in view of varying the films' structural and optical properties. The ZnO films were characterized by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and found to have a polycrystalline wurtzite phase structure. The grain sizes and the lattice parameters were determined; it was established that the ZnO crystallites' size increases with the annealing temperatures from 25 nm to 36 nm. The ZnO films possess high transmittance in the visible spectral range. Further, the optical band gap values were estimated. The material's vibration properties were analyzed by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The two technological sol-gel approaches for deposition of ZnO films, using two different solvents, proved to be successful in producing structures with different structural and optical properties. The thin films fabricated were very smooth and uniform and exhibited a high transparency in the visible spectral range.