RF plasma treatment of spray-pyrolized ZnO films
Abstract
This work investigated the effect of different plasma parameters on the properties of ZnO films grown via spray pyrolysis. These films were prepared using 0.2 M of Zn (CH3OO)2ยท2H2O as the precursor material for the spray pyrolysis method using a conventional nebulizer. The grown films will be plasma-treated using admixtures of argon (Ar) and oxygen (O2) gases excited by 13.56 MHz radio frequency power. Estimated band gap was obtained from the transmittance spectra measured using UV-Vis Spectrophotometry. Initial resistances were measured using a multimeter while the sheet resistance is measured using four-point probe. The results obtained were related to the defect levels of ZnO which is assumed to be affected due to plasma interaction. This has been shown through changes in the measured optical band gap and electrical resistance. Possible future application for optoelectronic devices was investigated by computing the figure of merit for transparent conducting electrodes.