Study of Zn1−2xNixFexO thin films coated on glass by sol–gel spin-coating method for DMS materials

• Published in: European physical journal plus Vol. 138; no. 8; p. 716
• Main Authors: Souissi, M., Schmerber, G., Colis, S., Alruwaili, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 15-08-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Applied and Technical Physics; Atomic; Complex Systems; Condensed Matter Physics; Core loss; Crystallites; Curie temperature; Display devices; Doping; Doppler effect; Emission spectra; Emissions; Ferromagnetism; Glass substrates; Grain size; Hysteresis loops; II-VI semiconductors; Iron; Mathematical and Computational Physics; Molecular; Nickel; Nitrates; Optical and Plasma Physics; Optical properties; Particle size; Photoluminescence; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Red shift; Regular Article; Room temperature; Scanning electron microscopy; Sol-gel processes; Spin coating; Theoretical; Thin films; Wurtzite; X-ray diffraction; Zinc oxide; Zinc oxides
• ISSN: 2190-5444; 2190-5444
• DOI: 10.1140/epjp/s13360-023-04312-7

In this paper, un-, Fe-, Ni- and (Fe + Ni)-doped ZnO layers were grown on transparent glass substrates by sol–gel process using the spin-coating technique. Investigations based on different techniques such as XRD, SEM, UV–visible spectroscopy, PL and VSM were performed to analyze the samples. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed the formation of hexagonal structure corresponding to the wurtzite phase of all samples without any secondary phases present in the spectra. The average crystallite size is in 36–80 nm range. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigation of the layers reveals that following doping, the ZnO grain sizes tend to increase. UV–visible shows red shift in peak wavelength. These findings are in line with the grain size dependence after doping obtained from XRD. Using transmittance spectra, the optical energy bandgap was found 3.29, 3.17, 3.11 and 3.15 eV of un-, Fe-, Ni- and (Ni + Fe)-doped ZnO, respectively. Un-doped ZnO has the highest intensity in near-band-edge emission, according to photoluminescence (PL) spectra, but after Ni and Fe doping, a slight redshift is observed with a strong violet (423 nm) and blue (475 nm) emission peaks, respectively. Hence, for Zn
1−2
x
Ni
x
Fe
x
O (
x
 = 0.01 and 0.03 mol%) thin films, the ensuing emission properties make them appropriate as lighting sources. Consequently, it is anticipated that full-color display devices would be possible. Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements at room temperature are discovered to be hysteretic, indicating room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) and implying the Curie temperature is greater than 300 K. The area under the hysteresis loop of Zn
1−2
x
Ni
x
Fe
x
O (
x
 = 0.01 and 0.03 mol%) decreases, indicating low hysteresis loss. The present findings are suitable for spintronic applications.