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Effects of Cr doping on the structural, optical and electrical characterizations of spray-deposited ZnSnO3 thin films

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Abstract

In the current research, spray pyrolysis was effectively employed to create the ZnSnO3 and Cr: ZnSnO3 films at substrate temperature 320 °C. The X-ray diffraction spectra of the ZnSnO3 and Cr: ZnSnO3 thin films revealed a rhombohedral structure corresponding to the ZnSnO3 phase. The structural analysis refers to increasing the Cr content from 0 to 7.5 wt% led to a reduction in the crystallite size of the investigated layers from 36.92 to 23.87 nm. The EDX measurements verified the existence of the Zn, Sn, and O in the ZnSnO3 and Cr, Zn, Sn, and O in the Cr: ZnSnO3 thin films. The ratios of these elements match the stoichiometry of ZnSnO3. Spectrophotometric measurements of the transmission and reflection of the neoteric Cr: ZnSnO3 sheets were used for analyzing their optical characteristics. The optical transmissions of the ZnSnO3 and Cr: ZnSnO3 films were reduced from 94 to 81% by boosting the Cr content. Moreover, the studied films attained band gaps reduced from 3.71 to 3.29 eV, boosting the Cr content from 0 to 7.5 wt%. Also, the analysis of the refractive indices of the investigated films displays an improvement in these values from 2.43 to 3.75. The Urbach energy of these samples increased from 0.13 to 0.17 eV by enlarging the Cr content. The optoelectrical indices like electrical conductivity, real and imaginary sections of the dielectric indices, and optical conductivity are all boosted by boosting the Cr content. The impact of Cr content on the nonlinear optical parameters refers to an enhancement in the nonlinear optical parameter’s values.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This research was not funded by any authority, entity or individual other than the authors themselves. They bear all the costs of the work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics Department, College of Science and Arts, King Abdulaziz University, Rabigh, Saudi Arabia

    H. Y. S. Al-Zahrani

  2. Department of Physics, College of Science and Arts at ArRass, Qassim University, 51921, ArRass, Saudi Arabia

    Abdullah Alsulami

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  1. H. Y. S. Al-Zahrani
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HYSA-Z: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, resources, writing, data curation, original draft, review and editing; AA: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, resources, writing, data curation, original draft, review and editing.

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Correspondence to H. Y. S. Al-Zahrani.

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Al-Zahrani, H.Y.S., Alsulami, A. Effects of Cr doping on the structural, optical and electrical characterizations of spray-deposited ZnSnO3 thin films. Appl. Phys. A 129, 783 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-023-07063-5

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