Study of nanosized copper-doped ZnO dilute magnetic semiconductor thick films for spintronic device applications

Screen-printed pure and copper-doped ZnO dilute magnetic semiconductor thick films were casted from chemically co-precipitated zinc oxide and copper-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles followed by sintering at 550 degrees C to obtain desired stoichiometry in spintronic device applications. These thick films were characterized by different analytical techniques to reveal their structure, surface morphology, optical, magnetic and electrical characteristics. The diffraction peaks pertaining to wurtzite structure are observed in XRD patterns of these films, while SEM images show smooth and dense morphology. Infrared transmission and Raman spectra exhibit vibrational bands pertaining to Zn-O-stretching modes and E-2 (high) phonon mode, respectively, in 4000-100 cm(-1) region. The direct bandgap energy of these films derived from diffused reflectance spectroscopy varies in 3.21-3.13 eV range and is supported by PL spectroscopy study. The semiconducting behaviour and activation energy of these thick films has been confirmed by DC conductivity measurements. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectra showed derivative signal of g value 2.0018 in pure ZnO due to oxygen vacancies produced during synthesis and 2.0704 in copper-doped ZnO dilute magnetic semiconductor films.