Pulsed Laser Ablation: A Facile and Low-Temperature Fabrication of Highly Oriented n-Type Zinc Oxide Thin Films

Eco-friendly and facile zinc oxide (ZnO) synthesis of zinc-oxide-based nanomaterials with specific properties is a great challenge due to its excellent industrial applications in the field of semiconductors and solar cells. In this paper, we report the production of zinc oxide thin films at relatively low deposition temperature employing a simple and non-toxic method at low substrate temperature: pulsed laser ablation, as a first step for developing a n-ZnO/p-Si heterojunction. Single-phase n-type zinc oxide thin films are confirmed by an X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern revealed by the maximum diffraction intensity from the (002) plane. Absorbance measurements indicate an increase in the band gap energy close to the bulk ZnO. A 350 degrees C substrate temperature led to obtaining a highly porous film with high crystallinity and high bandgap, showing good premises for further applications.

Automated summary

In this paper, a simple and eco-friendly method using pulsed laser ablation at low deposition temperature is employed to produce zinc oxide thin films with specific properties. The results show that the obtained thin films exhibit high porosity, crystallinity, and bandgap, making them promising for further applications in semiconductors and solar cells.