Preparation and structural characterisation of sprayed Znl-xMnxO films

Dilute magnetic semiconductors have received much attention recently due to the complementary properties of semiconductors and ferromagnetic material systems. Znl-xMnxO thin films have been synthesized by chemical spray pyrolysis at 400 degC for different manganese compositions in the range, 0.05 ≤ x ≥ 0.25, on to glass substrates. The X- ray diffraction studies revealed that all the films are strongly oriented along (002) orientation corresponding to the hexagonal wurtzite structure. The crystalline quality of the layers was found to decrease with the increase of x. The optical absorption studies revealed that the energy bandgap of Znl-xMnxO films was ∼3.3 eV for x = 0.15. (author)