Effect of swift heavy ion on structural and optical properties of highly transparent zinc oxide films

Abstract

Swift heavy ion (SHI)-induced modification in structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films deposited by sol-gel method is investigated. These thin films were irradiated by 120 MeV ions of Ag ?9 at various ion fluencies. The structural properties were studied using grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, and it shows that the average crystallite size of ZnO films is observed to decrease by the irradiation. The band gap of ZnO films is varied little without any appreciable change in the shape of near-band-edge absorption by SHI irradiation. It is also observed that the average transmittance in the visible region is reduced from *88 to *45 %. It can also be mentioned that the interference fringes from the transmittance spectra disappear on exposure to irradiation. The modifications of the observed structural and optical properties are explained in terms of defects induced by energy deposited in the lattice by SHI irradiation.

Gas sensing response of ion beam irradiated Ga-doped ZnO thin films

“…Because of its abundance in nature and exceptional electrical and optical properties, it has wide a range of applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices such as solar cell window, surface acoustic wave devices and gas sensing applications [5][6][7][8][9] . ZnO thin film is more appropriate for gas sensing applications because of its high surface to volume ratio, allowing adsorption of more gas for surface reactions [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] .Swift heavy ion irradiation (SHI) has created interest among the researchers as a tool for modifying the structural, electrical, and optical properties of materials, thereby greatly improving device efficiency [23][24][25][26] . Ion beam irradiation does not change the chemical composition of the material, but it does create structural defects that affect the concentration of adsorption canters and the capacity of adsorption on the material surface.…”

“…Because of its abundance in nature and exceptional electrical and optical properties, it has wide a range of applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices such as solar cell window, surface acoustic wave devices and gas sensing applications [5][6][7][8][9] . ZnO thin film is more appropriate for gas sensing applications because of its high surface to volume ratio, allowing adsorption of more gas for surface reactions [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] .…”

“…12 , 2 × 10 13 and 5 × 10 13 ions/cm 2 fluences of Ag 9+ and Si 6+ ion beams. The XRD patterns of Ag 9+ ion irradiated 5at% Ga doped ZnO thin film show all peaks corresponding to the hexagonal wurtzite…”