Bismuth doped zinc oxide thin films production and characterization

With the rapid progress of technology, research and development studies have created new production techniques that will be alternative to each other. Thin films gaining momentum among these emerging techniques have a wide range of applications. In this study, pure ZnO and Bi doped ZnO thin films produced by sol-gel method were synthesized. In this study, Bi doped ZnO films were prepared by sol-gel method and deposited on glass substrates by rotating coating method. The best conditions under which the film was formed were determined by trial and error by changing each parameter of the coating by rotating. When the appropriate parameter was found, the same parameter was applied for each film. The structural, superficial and optical properties of the produced films were characterized by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), UV-Visible Spectroscopy respectively and the effects of doping on these properties were investigated. It was observed that the surface morphology of Bi doped ZnO films changed with Bi doping. The optical properties of the films were examined and it was determined that they were direct band pass materials. The forbidden energy range for pure ZnO with the absorption graph was 3.30 eV. According to the increasing doping ratio, the forbidden energy ranges increased and then decreased. The results showed that the structural, superficial and optical properties of the films varied depending on the doping concentration. The materials produced can be used in solar cells, optoelectronic device applications, transparent conductive electrodes. Keywords: ZnO and ZnO: Bi-thin films, Rotating coating, AFM, Optical properties