Optical property and AC conductivity RF sputtered N-doped ZnO thin films

ZnO and ZnO:N thin films were deposited on plane glass substrate using RF sputtering method. The crystalline structure and surface morphology of the film was investigated using XRD and SEM. The XRD patterns of ZnO thin films have largest crystalline orientation for the (002) peak and shows wurtzite structure. The ZnO thin films composed of dance packing, grains without any cracks indicating uniform grain size distribution. The transmittance and absorbance of ZnO thin film was measured using UV-VIS-IR spectrophotometer in the wavelength range 200 nm-800 nm. The band gap of ZnO film was3.26 eV calculated by Tauc’s plot method. Photoluminescence property was also investigated at the excitation wavelength 325 nm. A.C. conductivity measurements carried out on the ZnO/ZnO:N thin films at room temperature in the frequency range 10 KHz to 0. 1MHz. This measurement also helps to distinguish between localized and free band conduction.The study demonstrated that ZnO and ZnO:N thin films fabricated by RF sputtering method can be used in electronicand optoelectronic applications due to high transmittance in visible region, large bandgap and localized conduction. Copyright © 2016 VBRI Press.