Investigation of the properties of tungsten doped ZnO thin films synthesised by SILAR method

Pure and tungsten (W) doped ZnO thin films have been successfully deposited on glass substrates by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. Effect of W doping causes the change of strained stress in ZnO films, which subsequently affected its structural and optical properties. The prepared films possessed a polycrystalline hexagonal wurtzite structure as seen from the X-ray diffraction (XRD). The SEM images show that W-doped ZnO thin films exhibit the presence of uniform coating and the film comprises nanostructured particles grown all over its surface. The transmittance spectra indicate that W doping can increase the optical bandgap of ZnO thin films. The optical energy gap of the films was estimated from Tauc’s law and observed to be an increasing tendency with increase in W doping concentration. The band edge emission shifts towards the blue region with increasing amount of W doping. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.