Effect of Fe-doping on the structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis

Fe-doped ZnO thin films have been prepared by spray pyrolysis on glass substrates and the influence of Fe-doping concentration on the structural and optical properties of the films has been studied. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis shows that Fe doping has a significant effect on crystalline quality, grain size and strain in the thin films. The best crystalline structure is obtained for 3 at% Fe doping as observed from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and XRD. However, lower or higher Fe-doping degrades the crystalline quality in turn. Moreover, UV spectroscopy demonstrates the influence of Fe-incorporation on visible range transmittance of ZnO where the best transmittance is obtained for 3 at% doping. The results have been illustrated simultaneously focusing previous results obtained from literature.