Titanium doping effect on the characteristic properties of sol-gel deposited ZnO thin films

Undoped and Ti doped ZnO thin films were made by sol-gel spin coating, and the investigation of structural, morphological and optical features was applied as a function of the doping ratio. The films had a polycrystalline ZnO wurtzite crystal structure with (002) preferential direction and film crystallinity decreased with Ti doping content. The SEM studies indicated that the nanoparticle structure of undoped films changed to nano-network like structure with Ti doping. The transmittance and optical band gap of undoped sample firstly increased with 1 at.% Ti doping and then they decreased with higher Ti level. Consequently, the present work suggests that the characteristic properties of ZnO can be tailored with Ti doping and ZnO:Ti films have a potential importance for usage in many technological applications. K e y w o r d s: ZnO, sol-gel preparation, Ti doping, thin films