Morphological and optical properties of sol-gel derived Ni doped ZnO thin film

In this work, we are interested in thin films of zinc oxide doped with nickel (Ni), deposited on glass substrates and elaborated by the sol-gel dip coating technique. The effects of the doping concentration in the range of outlet (1%, 3% and Sat%) have been thoroughly studied. The morphological properties of ZnO-Ni films were studied by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The optical properties of the ZnO:Ni thin films were examined by UV-visible spectroscopy and the Tauc method was used to estimate the optical band gap and hall effect for electrical characteristique. Atomic Force Microscopy has indicated that the surface of the ZnO:Ni thin films have uniform and dense ZnO grains. The optical transmittance of ZnO:Ni thin films increased from 86 to about 93% from pure ZnO films to ZnO film doped with 3 vvt% Ni and then decreased for 5 vvt% Ni, and the optical band gap from 3.297 eV to 3.23eV. The electrical characterization performed using the technique of hall effect, gave a maximum electrical conductivity of 9.3 10(-3) (Omega.Cm)(-1) obtained for the film doped with 3%Ni.