Structural and optical properties of post annealed Mg doped ZnO thin films deposited by the sol gel method

TL;DR

This study investigates how post annealing temperature affects the structural and optical properties of Mg-doped ZnO thin films prepared by the sol gel method, revealing changes in crystallinity, surface roughness, transmittance, and bandgap.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the relationship between annealing temperature and the properties of Mg-doped ZnO thin films, which was not extensively studied before.

Findings

Increased annealing temperature enhances crystallinity and surface roughness.

Higher annealing temperatures decrease optical transmittance.

Optical bandgap narrows with increased annealing temperature.

Abstract

Thin films of magnesium doped zinc oxide (MZO) were synthesized using the sol gel method and annealed at different temperatures under ambient condition. The morphological properties of the post annealed MZO films were investigated using X ray diffraction (XRD) while atomic force microscopy (AFM) was employed to probe the topographical alteration of the films. The optical properties of the post annealed MZO films were examined by UV visible spectroscopy and the Tauc method was used to estimate the optical band gap. The studies revealed that, with the rise of annealing temperature the crystallinity and the surface roughness of the MZO films were increased whereas the optical transmittance and the energy bandgap were decreased.