Role of Sb-dopant on physical and optical properties of ZnO thin film deposited by sol-gel-based coating method

Abstract

Sb-doped ZnO films were prepared by sol-gel spin coating technique on glass substrate. The sol-gel was prepared from zinc acetate dihydrate as zinc precursor and diethanolamine as sol stabilizer. Antimony (III) acetate was selected as the precursor of Sb. The doping concentration was varied from 0 to 10 mol%. The films were prepared by spin coating technique following by annealing at 500°C for 2 h in ambient air. The XRD exhibits ZnO hexagonal wurtzite without impurity phase. Their XRD peaks show deterioration in crystallinity that is in accordance with FESEM and TEM images showing decreasing in particle size with increasing doping content. The XPS confirm the existence of Sb3+ that could substitute Zn2+ on the zinc site or zinc vacancy. The photoluminescence results exhibit blue-shift with increasing Sb doping concentration. The transmittance spectra show high transmittance above 90% in visible region.