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A structural, morphological, linear, and nonlinear optical spectroscopic studies of nanostructured Al-doped ZnO thin films: An effect of Al concentrations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2019

Mohd Arif ,
Mohd Shkir Open the ORCID record for Mohd Shkir [Opens in a new window] ,
Salem AlFaify ,
Vanga Ganesh ,
Amit Sanger ,
Hamed Algarni ,
Paula M. Vilarinho  and
Arun Singh
Mohd Arif
Affiliation:
Advanced Electronic & Nanomaterials Laboratory, Department of Physics, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 110025, India
Mohd Shkir*
Affiliation:
Advanced Functional Materials and Optoelectronic Laboratory (AFMOL), Department of Physics, College of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
Salem AlFaify
Affiliation:
Advanced Functional Materials and Optoelectronic Laboratory (AFMOL), Department of Physics, College of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
Vanga Ganesh
Affiliation:
Advanced Functional Materials and Optoelectronic Laboratory (AFMOL), Department of Physics, College of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
Amit Sanger
Affiliation:
School of Materials Science, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan 44919, South Korea
Hamed Algarni
Affiliation:
Advanced Functional Materials and Optoelectronic Laboratory (AFMOL), Department of Physics, College of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
Paula M. Vilarinho
Affiliation:
Department of Materials and Ceramic Engineering, University of Aveiro, Aveiro 3810-193, Portugal
Arun Singh*
Affiliation:
Advanced Electronic & Nanomaterials Laboratory, Department of Physics, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 110025, India
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: arunsingh07@gmail.com
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Abstract

Sol–gel spin coating is applied to fabricate the pure and different concentrations of aluminum (Al)-doped ZnO films on high-quality silicon substrates. All films are showing high crystallinity in X-ray diffraction study, and lattice constants were obtained using PowderX software. The value of crystallite size was found in range of 20–40 nm. EDX/SEM mapping was performed for 2 wt% Al-doped ZnO film, which shows the presence of Al and its homogeneous distribution in the film. SEM investigation shows nanorods morphology all over the surface of films, and the dimension of nanorods is found to increase with Al doping. The E(g)dire. values were estimate in range of 3.25–3.29 eV for all films. Linear refractive index was found in range of 1.5–2.75. The χ1 value is found in range of 0.13–1.4 for all films. The χ3 values are found in range of 0.0053 × 10−10 to 6.24 × 10−10 esu for pure and doped films. The n2 values were also estimated. These studies clearly showed that the properties of ZnO have been enriched by Al doping, and hence doped films are more appropriate for optoelectronic applications.

Keywords

ZnO/AZO thin filmX-ray diffractionEDX/SEMoptical propertiesnonlinear properties
Type
Article
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 34 , Issue 8 , 29 April 2019 , pp. 1309 - 1317
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2019 

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