Structural, Optical and Luminescence Properties of ZnO Thin Films Prepared by Sol-Gel Spin-Coating Method: Effect of Precursor Concentration

Transparent zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films are fabricated by a simple sol-gel spin-coating technique on glass substrates with different solution concentrations (0.3–1.2 M) using zinc acetate dehydrate [Zn(CH ₃ COO) ₂·2H ₂ O] as precursor and isopropanol and monoethanolamine (MEA) as solvent and stabilizer, respectively. The molar ratio of zinc acetate dehydrate to MEA is 1.0. X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy are employed to investigate the effect of solution concentration on the structural and optical properties of the ZnO thin films. The obtained results of all thin films are discussed in detail and are compared with other experimental data. (paper)