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Deposition, characterization and gas sensors application of RF magnetron-sputtered terbium-doped ZnO films

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Abstract

Influence of terbium (Tb) doping on structural, optical and morphological properties of radio frequency magnetron-sputtered ZnO films has been investigated using various characterization techniques. Investigations revealed the formation of hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO with preferential c-axis orientation, presence of oxygen vacancies, modification of surface morphology and surface roughness, and confirmation of oxidation states of elements present in ZnO and Tb-doped ZnO films. Subsequently, films deposited with varied Tb concentrations have been tested for ethanol vapor sensing. Doped films exhibited reduction in optimum operable temperature, enhancement in ethanol sensing response and improvement in response/recovery time in comparison with pristine ZnO. The observed improvement in doped samples has been attributed to modifications in surface properties such as morphology, surface roughness, basicity, structural disorder and oxygen vacancies introduced due to dopant incorporation.

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Acknowledgements

Anita Hastir would like to acknowledge financial support from the INSPIRE Fellowship, Department of Science & Technology, India, and USIEF for providing Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Fellowship. Thanks to University of Delaware, USA, and UGC-UPE, India, DST-FIST, India, for providing instrumental facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, 143005, India

    Anita Hastir, Nipin Kohli,  Virpal & Ravi Chand Singh

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19716, USA

    Robert L. Opila, Zuhal Onuk & Kevin Jones

  3. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19716, USA

    Bo Yuan

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  1. Anita Hastir
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Correspondence to Ravi Chand Singh.

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Figure. S1

Schematic of sensing unit. (a) Testing chamber and (b) data acquisition system where RL is load resistance and RS is sensor resistance (DOCX 27 kb)

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Hastir, A., Opila, R.L., Kohli, N. et al. Deposition, characterization and gas sensors application of RF magnetron-sputtered terbium-doped ZnO films. J Mater Sci 52, 8502–8517 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-1059-9

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