Design And Fabrication Of A Low-Cost Dip Coating System For Depositing Homogeneous And Transparent Zno Thin Films

Abstract

ZnO has a resistivity of up to 10 4 U cm ¡ 1 in most cases. Nevertheless, by increasing the layer thickness, the resistivity decreases as well, resulting in greater current transport. The dip coating system was developed to prepare the ultra-thin fi lm, it relied on a controller, stepper motor and some low-cost recycled materials. Thin fi lms of ZnO were successfully deposited on indium tin oxide substrates. The effects of the dipping cycles were investigated. Dipping processes were applied several times (1, 2, and 3) for the same concentrations (0.1) M to obtain homogeneous thin fi lms. X-ray diffraction showed that the structure of ZnO is hexagonal Wurtzite. The crystals were in the nanoscale size range as (19.18, 24.76, and 31.29) nm. As for the examination by FESEM, it was found that homogeneous layers formed when increasing the number of times of coating for the prepared thin fi lms. High transmittance, decreasing in energy gap, and suitable surface resistance ZnO thin fi lms were achieved. In the wavelength range of 190 e 1100 nm, the thin fi lms had an optical transmittance of up to 87%. The sheet resistance values were determined to be 19.202 U sq ¡ 1 indicating that the characteristics of ZnO thin fi lms have improved. The dip coating device is designed to be easy to use, inexpensive and economic in terms of using the raw materials. This low-cost manufactured device contributes to scienti fi c development for researchers who are unable to buy expensive devices that perform the same purpose and give the same results.