Optical and electrical studies on spray deposited ZnO thin films

ZnO thin films were prepared by spray pyrolytic decomposition of zinc acetate onto a glass substrate. These films were analyzed for the optical and electrical properties. Optical studies show that in these films the electronic transition is of the direct transition type. The optical energy gap for the films of different thicknesses is estimated to be in the range 2.98-3.09 eV. Electrical studies indicate that the films exhibit thermally activated electronic conduction and the activation energies are found to be dependent on the film thickness. The complex impedance measurements were carried out over a wide range of frequencies at room temperature (300 K). All the impedance spectra contain only a single arc, but the arc has a non-zero intersection with the real axis in the high frequency region. Also, the arc has its centre lying below with the real axis which indicates the multirelaxation behavior of the films. (C) 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.