The influence of the reaction gas composition during the DC magnetron sputtering process on the structural, chemical and optical properties of Ce-oxide thin films was investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies confirmed that all thin films exhibited a polycrystalline character with cubic fluorite structure for cerium dioxide. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses revealed that cerium is present in two oxidation states, namely as CeO2 and Ce2O3, at the surface of the films prepared at oxygen/argon flow ratios between 0% and 7%, whereas the films are completely oxidized into CeO2 as the aforementioned ratio increases beyond 14%. Various optical parameters for the thin films (including an optical band gap in the range of 2.25–3.1 eV) were derived from the UV–Vis reflectance. A significant change in the band gap was observed as oxygen/argon flow ratio was raised from 7% to 14% and this finding is consistent with the high-resolution XPS analysis of Ce 3d that reports a mixture of Ce2O3 and CeO2 in the films. Density functional theory (DFT+U) implemented in the Cambridge Serial Total Energy Package (CASTEP) was carried out to simulate the optical constants of CeO2 clusters at ground state. The computed electronic density of states (DOSs) of the optimized unit cell of CeO2 yields a band gap that agrees well with the experimentally measured optical band gap. The simulated and measured absorption coefficient (α) exhibited a similar trend and, to some extent, have similar values in the wavelength range from 100 to 2500 nm. The combined results of this study demonstrate good correlation between the theoretical and experimental findings.
In this work, pure and Ag-doped nickel oxide (NiO) thin films were deposited on glass substrates with different dopant concentrations (0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 wt.%) by pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) technique at room temperature. These films were annealed at temperature of 450 °C. The structural and optical properties of the prepared thin films were studied. It was found that annealing process has lead to increase the transmittance of the deposited films. Also, the transmittance was found to increase with doping concentration of silver in the deposited NiO films. The optical energy gap was decreased from 3.5 to 3.2 eV as the doping concentration was increased to 0.4 %.
In this research ,Undoped Nio and 1%Li doped Nio thin films were deposited utilizing chemical spray pyrolysis on the glass substrates heated (450C). The effects of non-thermal plasma on the structural and optical properties were studied. XRD measurement shows that Nio and Nio:1%Li films were found to be polycrystalline and have cubic structure with a preferred orientation (111). Decreased crystal size after exposure especially at (7) sec. AFM data indicate that the surface roughness average and (RMS) values of the prepared doped films are increasing after exposure to plasma, the transmittance increases after doped samples exposure to plasma, it was found that the energy gap value decreased when doped samples exposure to plasma, also, thickn
... Show MoreThis work introduces the synthesis and the characterization of N-doped TiO2 and Co3O4 thin films prepared via DC reactive magnetron sputtering technique. N-doped TiO2 thin films was deposited on indium-tin oxide (ITO) conducting substrate at different nitrogen ratios, then the Co3O4 thin film was deposited onto the N-doped TiO2 layer to synthesize a double-layer TiO2-N/Co3O4 Photoelectrochromic device. Several techniques were used to characterize the produces which are x-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and UV–Vis spectroscopy. The Photoelectrochromic device was characterized by UV–Vis spectroscopy and the results show that the double-layer N-dope
... Show MoreThin films of (CuO)x(ZnO)1-x composite were prepared by pulsed laser deposition technique and x ratio of 0≤ x ≤ 0.8 on clean corning glass substrate at room temperatures (RT) and annealed at 373 and 473K. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated that all prepared films have polycrystalline nature and the phase change from ZnO hexagonal wurtzite to CuO monoclinic structure with increasing x ratio. The deposited films were optically characterized by UV-VIS spectroscopy. The optical measurements showed that (CuO)x(ZnO)1-x films have direct energy gap. The energy band gaps of prepared thin films
The effect of annealing on the structural and optical properties of Antimony trisulfide (Sb2S3) is investigated. Sb2S3 powder is vaporized on clean glass substrates at room temperature under high vacuum pressure to form thin films. The structural research was done with the aid of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The amorphous to the polycrystalline transformation of these thin films was shown by X-ray diffraction analysis after thermal annealing. These films' morphology is explained. The absorption coefficient and optical energy gap of the investigated films are calculated using transmission spectra. Both samples have strong absorption in the visible spectrum, according to UV-visible absorption spectra. The optical
... Show MoreCadmium Oxide thin films were deposited on glass substrate by spray pyrolysis technique at different temperatures (300,350,400, 500)oC. The optical properties of the films were studied in this work. The optical band-gap was determined from absorption spectra, it was found that the optical band-gap was within the range of (2.5-2.56)eV also width of localized states and another optical properties.
In this work, the effect of atomic ratio on structural and optical properties of SnO2/In2O3 thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition technique under vacuum and annealed at 573K in air has been studied. Atomic ratios from 0 to 100% have been used. X-ray diffraction analysis has been utilized to study the effect of atomic ratios on the phase change using XRD analyzer and the crystalline size and the lattice strain using Williamson-Hall relationship. It has been found that the ratio of 50% has the lowest crystallite size, which corresponds to the highest strain in the lattice. The energy gap has increased as the atomic ratio of indium oxide increased.
Abstract: This paper presents the results of the structural and optical analysis of CdS thin films prepared by Spray of Pyrolysis (SP) technique. The deposited CdS films were characterized using spectrophotometer and the effect of Sulfide on the structural properties of the films was investigated through the analysis of X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD). The growth of crystal became stronger and more oriented as seen in the X-ray diffraction pattern. The studying of X-ray diffraction showed that; all the films have the hexagonal structure with lattice constants a=b=4.1358 and c=6.7156A°, the crystallite size of the CdS thin films increases and strain (ε) as well as the dislocation density (δ) decreases. Also, the optical properties of the
... Show MoreVanadium dioxide nanofilms are one of the most essential materials in electronic applications like smart windows. Therefore, studying and understanding the optical properties of such films is crucial to modify the parameters that control these properties. To this end, this work focuses on investigating the opacity as a function of the energy directed at the nanofilms with different thicknesses(1–100) nm. Effective mediator theories(EMTs), which are considered as the application of Bruggeman’s formalism and the Looyenga mixing rule, have been used to estimate the dielectric constant of VO2 nanofilms. The results show different opacity behaviors at different wavelength ranges(ultraviolet, visible, and infrared). The results depict that th
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