Study on the effect of Ni co-doping on structural, micro-structural and optical properties of transparent AZO thin films

Abstract Optically transparent Zn0.97-xAl0.03NixO thin films were prepared using spin coating technique. The role of Ni concentration on the structural, microstructural, composition and optical properties were studied by means of XRD, SEM-EDS, RAMAN, UV–Visible spectroscopy. The prepared preferred crystalline orientation along the (002) plane (c-axis) with Ni concentration is seen in the prepared films. The findings of FESEM –EDX demonstrates the homogeneous, uniform and smooth texture of the prepared films with strong adherence to the glass substrate and the presence of nominal values of elements. In addition, the findings of Raman also confirm the absence of Ni related impurity phases. Furthermore, Raman peak shift and intensity variations of Raman spectra suggests that the prepared films have a high degree of crystallinity with lower residual stresses. Optical results suggested that spin coated thin films have optical transparency nearly 90% in the visible wavelength region. It was also observed that the energy bang-gap decreases with the concentration of Ni ions in the host ZnO matrix. Results examined indicate that spin-coated thin films are possible candidates for TCO applications.