Influence of Fe and Fe+F doping on the magnetic, surface morphological and optical properties of sprayed ZnO films.

Undoped, Fe doped and Fe+F doped ZnO films were prepared using simplified spray pyrolysis technique by employing a perfume atomizer at the substrate temperature of 350˚C. Structural, surface morphological, optical and magnetic properties of thin films have been investigated by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), UV-vis- NIR spectrophotometer and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), respectively. From the results, it is observed that all the films possess hexagonal wurtzite structure of zinc oxide having crystallite sizes in the range of 47-50nm. The SEM image of the prepared sample show that the grain size tends to decrease with double (Fe+F) doping. Fe and F incorporation hardly influences the transmittance in the visible range. Magnetic measurement revealed the presence of room temperature ferromagnetism in all the three films.With Fe doping the magnetization increases and the coercivity decreases whereas with Fe+F doping, ZnO film shows the magnetization increases and the coercivity becomes half of its value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]