Deposition Time and Seed Layer on Morphological Properties of ZnO by CBD

What is it about?

In this work, three types of zinc (Zn) precursors, namely Zn(NO3)2, ZnSO4 and ZnCl2, were used and the deposition time in a water bath was controlled for 20, 40 and 60 minutes at 85 °C respectively. The effect of a seed layer, by using potassium permanganate (KMnO4) solution, on the formation of zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films on glass substrates have been determined. The presence of the seed layer promotes better adhesion of the films which allows ZnO to form with a higher growth rate on the substrate with only a little or no loss by precipitation in the solution. By varying the deposition time, ZnO nanostructures with different length and diameter can be formed.

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Why is it important?

A simple yet cost-effective way to deposit ZnO thin films is by using a chemical bath deposition method. It is particularly good potential for scale-up in fabricating large area of thin film electronics. However, heterogeneous nucleation at the surface, as well as the homogeneous particle formed in the bath due to the heat supplied for the chemical reaction to the sample surface. The growth solution also changes as a function of time and results in the difficulty of thickness control. To facilitate heteronucleation, the use of seeding layers is a preferable choice.

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