Enhancement in some physical properties of spray deposited CdO:Mn thin films through Zn doping towards optoelectronic applications

This paper reports the enhancement in the structural, morphological and opto-electrical properties of spray deposited CdO:Mn thin films through Zn doping. Mn concentration is maintained as 1 at.% for all the films whereas Zn concentration in CdO:Mn film is varied as 1, 2 and 3 wt.%. XRD studies showed that the crystalline quality of pure CdO deteriorates with Mn doping which got enhanced with Zn doping. The entire doped films exhibit a (1 1 1) preferential orientation similar to that of the undoped film. Cauliflower shaped nanostructures are evinced for all the films from the FESEM images. The decreased transparency of pure CdO with Mn doping increases with Zn doping and a maximum transmittance of 89.8% is obtained for the CdO:Mn film coated with 2 wt.% Zn concentration. Optical band gap of pure CdO which exhibits a red shift with Mn doping got blue shifted with Zn doping. Electrical studies showed that the CdO:Mn film is more resistive than the undoped film which experience a decrement with Zn doping. The obtained results confirm that CdO:Mn film when doped with zinc finds application in optoelectronic devices due to their enhanced opto-electrical properties.