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A structural, morphological, linear, and nonlinear optical spectroscopic studies of nanostructured Al-doped ZnO thin films: An effect of Al concentrations

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Abstract

Sol–gel spin coating is applied to fabricate the pure and different concentrations of aluminum (Al)-doped ZnO films on high-quality silicon substrates. All films are showing high crystallinity in X-ray diffraction study, and lattice constants were obtained using PowderX software. The value of crystallite size was found in range of 20–40 nm. EDX/SEM mapping was performed for 2 wt% Al-doped ZnO film, which shows the presence of Al and its homogeneous distribution in the film. SEM investigation shows nanorods morphology all over the surface of films, and the dimension of nanorods is found to increase with Al doping. The E(g)dire. values were estimate in range of 3.25–3.29 eV for all films. Linear refractive index was found in range of 1.5–2.75. The χ1 value is found in range of 0.13–1.4 for all films. The χ3 values are found in range of 0.0053 × 10−10 to 6.24 × 10−10 esu for pure and doped films. The n2 values were also estimated. These studies clearly showed that the properties of ZnO have been enriched by Al doping, and hence doped films are more appropriate for optoelectronic applications.

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Acknowledgment

The authors are grateful to Department of Science and Technology Ministry of Science and Technology & University Grants Commission, Government of India for the financial support. A.S. would like to thank the Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India for the award of Young Scientist and BOYCAST Fellowship. The authors from KKU would like to express their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at the King Khalid University for funding this work through Research Groups Program under Grant No. R.G.P. 2/10/39. Authors are also thankful to Prof. I.S. Yahia, KKU, KSA for help in OC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Advanced Electronic & Nanomaterials Laboratory, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 110025, India

    Mohd Arif & Arun Singh

  2. Advanced Functional Materials and Optoelectronic Laboratory (AFMOL), Department of Physics, College of Science, King Khalid University, Abha, 61413, Saudi Arabia

    Mohd Shkir, Salem AlFaify, Vanga Ganesh & Hamed Algarni

  3. School of Materials Science, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, 44919, South Korea

    Amit Sanger

  4. Department of Materials and Ceramic Engineering, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, 3810-193, Portugal

    Paula M. Vilarinho

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  1. Mohd Arif
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Correspondence to Arun Singh.

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Arif, M., Shkir, M., AlFaify, S. et al. A structural, morphological, linear, and nonlinear optical spectroscopic studies of nanostructured Al-doped ZnO thin films: An effect of Al concentrations. Journal of Materials Research 34, 1309–1317 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2018.506

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