Optical and Structural Studies of Sol-Gel Deposited Nanostructured CdO Thin Films: Annealing Effect.

Nanocrystalline CdO thin films were prepared by sol-gel dip-coating method using a different solution. The as-deposited films were subjected to drying temperature of 120° in air. The prepared films were annealed in different temperatures of 200, 300 and 400 °C. The characterization of samples was carried out by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and UV-VIS spectroscopy. Results show that the samples are polycrystalline in nature and the crystallinity of the films improves with temperature. The average grain size is in the range of 19-34 nm. It was observed that the optical parameters of the films were affected by annealing temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]