Characterization of Single Layer ZnO thin Films Prepared by Sol-gel Spin Coating Technique at Different Concentration Zainal S. M.1, Zamzuri M.2, Hasnulhadi M.3, Nazree M.4, Fariza M.5, Izaki M.6 1School of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia 2Institute of Nanoelectronic Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia 3School of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia 4Sustainable Engineering Research Cluster, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia 5Faculty of Electrical & Electronic Engineering. Universiti Tun Hussein Onn, Malaysia 6Department of Mechanical Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan Online published on 2 February, 2019. Abstract Objective This paper is used to demonstrate the preparation of the ZnO films on indium tin oxide (ITO) glass. This work also demonstrates a low cost, environment friendly and well abandoned material for photovoltaic device applications. Analysis We report the sol gel concentration effects on the morphological, structural and optical properties of ZnO thin film prepared on ITO substrates by sol gel spin coating method. Method The n-ZnO thin films have been successfully fabricated on the ITO glass by sol gel spin coating method with different sol-gel concentration of 1∼10%. Findings The ZnO thin films were found by spin coating on ITO substrate using a sol-gel containing zinc acetate dehydrate, 2-propanol and ethanolamine. The coverage of ZnO films was maintained by controlling the spinning speed and coating time during the spin coating process. Result Combining results from AFM, XRD, and UV-Vis, we conclude that 5% of ZnO concentration gives the best result in terms of morphological, structural and optical properties. The formation of ZnO hexagonal wurtzite structure showed the average transmittance in the visible region of all films is almost 80%. The calculated band gap energy of ZnO thin films were between 3.60 eV to 3.85 eV. The thickness and average grain size of ZnO thin films were found to be around 8∼15 nm and 90∼150 nm respectively. Top Keywords Zinc oxide, sol-gel, spin coating. Top |