Abstract
Nanostructured cadmium (Cd) doped ZnO ceramic thin films were deposited on glass substrates by the sol-gel spin coating method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy and UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometry. The XRD analysis showed that thin films were crystalline with hexagonal wurtzite structure. The preferred orientation of un-doped and Cd-doped ZnO thin films lies along the (002) plane. FESEM images revealed that the morphology consists of spherical, non-spherical and partly cylindrical structures. The results of EDX showed that Cd was doped into the ZnO structure. The UV-Vis transmittance spectra showed that substitution of Cd into ZnO leads to bandgap narrowing. The Urbach energy increases with the increase in Cd concentration. The prepared nanostructured cadmium (Cd) doped ZnO ceramic thin films can be used in electronic device technologies.