Microstructural and optical properties of Cu doped ZnO thin films prepared by magnetic spin coating

Undoped and Cu doped ZnO (ZnO:Cu) thin films have been prepared by magnetic spin coating technique. Magnetic spin coating technique is a novel thin film deposition technique in which a sol-gel solution is used and the substrate rotation is made magnetically. Influence of Cu doping on structural, morphological and optical properties of ZnO thin film was investigated. The crystallinity of ZnO thin films was found to be degraded by the Cu doping. Both crystallite size and surface morphology were affected by doping. The grain size values decreased with increase in doping concentration. It was observed a change in the optical band gap value with doping. This change has been realized as a decrease depending on the increase in doping. It was determined that structural and optical properties of ZnO films could be controlled by Cu doping.