Optical band gap engineering and comparison of conductivity of Nb and Ta-doped Zinc oxide thin films and their application in opto-electronic

Kamalianfar, Ahmad

doi:10.48301/jear.2025.505811.1089

Optical band gap engineering and comparison of conductivity of Nb and Ta-doped Zinc oxide thin films and their application in opto-electronic

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Ahmad Kamalianfar

Department of Physics Education, Farhangian University, P.O. Box 14665-889, Tehran, Iran

10.48301/jear.2025.505811.1089

Abstract

A band gap energy, a fundamental concept in electronic devices, governs both their electrical and optical behaviors. The structural, optical, and band structure properties of niobium and tantalum doped ZnO films deposited on glass substrates were studied for their potential application in the opto-electronic. The films were prepared using the pulse laser deposition technique and characterized by various spectroscopic and microanalytical tools. The samples were annealed at 400 in a controlled oxygen environment to improve crystalline quality.
The X-ray diffraction analysis of doped ZnO thin films confirmed the incorporation of dopants into the ZnO lattice without altering its wurtzite structure.
The crystallite size of ZnO, TaZ, and NbZ films was calculated from the Williamson-Hall method to be 86, 60, and 28 nm, respectivily .
The optical bandgap energy was also computed as a function of photon energy using the Tauc formula, revealing a direct band gap of approximately 2.28, 2.38, and 2.40 eV for ZnO, TaZ, and NbZ films, respectivily . A small blue shift in the optical band gap, called the Burstein-Moss shift, was observed in the absorption spectrum, which is often expected in semiconductors with doping.
The temperature dependence of the resistivity of the thin films was also investigated. The results showed that the electrical resistances of the films decrease with an increases in temperature.

Keywords

Transparent conducting oxides

Niobium doping

Tantalum doping

Band gap

Subjects

Materials Engineering

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