The role of samarium incorporated structural defects in ZnO thin films prepared by femtosecond pulsed laser deposition

Abstract

Samarium, a rare-earth element is used as an impurity in ZnO to study the effects it causes in structure thereby changing the optical and electrical characteristics of ZnO thin films. Samarium zinc oxide (SmxZn1-xO, SZO) films are deposited on glass substrates employing femtosecond pulsed laser deposition (fs-PLD). XRD results show that all films are crystalline and prefer c-axis growth. 1 wt.% Sm is plausible for doping in ZnO and 2 wt.% samarium addition results in reaction among impurity and host atoms forming a compound ZnSm2O4. Higher concentrations lead to defect generation and decline of crystalline quality. AFM results show that surface roughness is increased with samarium incorporation in addition to affecting particle size and shape. These microstructural variations significantly affect the optical transmittance, reflectance and band gap energies of thin films which are calculated using spectroscopic ellipsometry data. Presence of intrinsic defects and extrinsic defects caused by samarium is revealed by Photoluminescence Spectroscopy. Electrical resistivity of SZO films is significantly affected with Sm concentration in nanocrystalline ZnO. These types of films are suitable for use in optical devices for UV and blue emission.

Ultra-Short Pulsed Laser Deposition of Oxides, Borides and Carbides of Transition Elements

“…The results were not clearly reported, but they seemed to indicate that crystalline ZnO films were deposited. This was different to the approach of Hashmi et al, who studied the role of a dopant in the growth of ZnO films [63]. The laser source was the same as already used by the same group [61], while the dopant was samarium.…”

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Magnesium ZRE1 (Mg-Zn-Zr) Alloy with Rare Earth Element (Samarium) Addition

“…Luo et al (2019) synthesized a novel samarium complex that emits red light and has potential as a red light emitting material for LEDs. Meanwhile Hashmi et al (2019) studied the effects of samarium incorporation in ZnO thin films and found that it affected the optical and electrical characteristics of the films, making them suitable for use in optical devices for UV and blue emission. Marzouk and Hammad (2020) found that samarium oxide affects the structural and optical properties of bismuth glass, making it suitable for photonic applications.…”

Influence of Fluorine and Nitrogen Co-Doping on the Structural and Morphological Properties of Sol-Gel ZnO Films

“…There are various deposition methods to fabricate ZnO based films, including hydrothermal synthesis [22], spray pyrolysis [23], chemical vapor deposition [24], magnetron sputtering [25], pulsed laser deposition [26] and electrodeposition [27]. Among these, the sol-gel technology is advantageous due to its low operation cost, non-vacuum requirements, non-expensive equipment, large area film deposition, compositional modifications, precise microstructural and chemical control, reproducibility and the possibility of engineering the film properties.…”