Structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films by the spin coating Sol-Gel method

ZnO thin films were deposited onto glass subsrates by a Sol-gel spin coating method. The structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films were investigated. The molar ratios of the zinc acetate dihydrate to Monoethanolamine were maintained 1:1. The as-grown film was sintered 250 °C for 10 min, then annealed in air at 500 °C for 30 min. The XRD results indicate that ZnO films were strongly oriented to the c-axis of the hexagonal nature. Absorption measurements were carried out as a function of temperature with 10 K steps in the range 10–320 K. The band gap energy was measured 3.275 and 3.267 eV for 0.5 and 1.0 molarity (M) ZnO thin films at 300 K. The steepness parameters were observed between 10 and 320 K and their extrapolations converged at (E₀, α₀) = 3.65 eV, 172,819 cm⁻¹ and 3.70 eV, 653,436 cm⁻¹ for 0.5 and 1.0 M ZnO thin films, respectively.