Initial study on the structure and optical properties of Zn1−xFexO films

Enhancement in UV emission and band gap by Fe doping in ZnO thin films

“…Here the host being zinc oxide, conversion of Fe 3+ to Fe 2+ is very likely. In the light of the (002) peak positions here and the results of references [13,17,20] it appears that Fe 2+ and Fe 3+ coexist in the sam− ple films presented in this paper. Coexistence of both ions is reported by Rambu et al [18] where the films were prepared by spin coating and by other workers also [16].…”

“…A decrease in diffraction angle with increas− ing Fe concentration is reported by Chen et al [17] and Wang et al [13] where Fe ion exist as Fe 2+ . Increase in the diffraction angles is reported by Xu et al [20] where Fe ions exist as Fe 3+.…”

“…For Mg doped ZnO band gap enhance− ment is well known but reason is hardly reported. For Fe doped ZnO where iron exists in +2 state, at least five papers [13,[16][17][18][19] have reported decrease in band gap. Nd (a lan− thanide) doped ZnO leads to a band gap narrowing although the dopant is in +3 state.…”

“…13 Polyakov et al [14] found room temperature ferromagnetism by implanting Fe ions in ZnO crystal grown by vapour phase while Janisch et al [15] reported that Fe−doped ZnO showed a paramag− netic behaviour. Also optical band gap of Fe doped ZnO has been found to decrease by some authors [13,[16][17][18][19], whereas it is reported to increase by others [20,21].…”

“…[1][2][3]13,17,20,22]. Out of these methods sol−gel is simpler besides producing good quality films.…”