Effect of ageing on electrical properties of Fe-doped CuO thin films deposited by spin coating technique

The effect of ageing on electrical properties of Fe-doped CuO thin films was investigated in this study. The pure and Fe (2, 4, 6; mol%)-doped CuO films were prepared by using spin coating technique and characterized by using X-ray diffractometer (XRD), field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), UV–Vis spectrophotometer and two-probe technique. The results showed that the pure and Fe-doped CuO thin films had a monoclinic phase and the monoclinic structure did not change with Fe doping. As the crystal size increased, the dislocation density and strain decreased. From the electron microscopy images, it is clearly observed that the pure and Fe-doped CuO thin films contain spherical structures. The energy band gaps of the thin films were estimated as 3.80, 3.89, 3.98 and 4.11 eV, respectively. The conductivity of the thin films increased with increasing temperature from 300 to 450 K. The activation energy of the films increased with Fe doping. These thin films are potential candidates for solar cell applications.