Abstract
In this paper, pure ZnO and Fe doped ZnO (Fe:ZnO) were synthesized by simple and low cost co-precipitation and the obtained products were deposited by spin-coating technique on Silicon (Si) substrates. The influence of Fe-doping concentration ranged from 0.5 to 5 atomic percent (at.%) on structural and opto-electronic properties of the prepared films was discussed. Crystalline structure and surface morphology of the deposited films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) techniques. As a result, with a minority carrier density (n) of 10(13) cm(-3), the effective minority carrier lifetime increases from 2 to 95 mu s. However, following Fe:ZnO onto silicon coating, shows that the reflectance is decreased from 32% to roughly 6%. Fe:ZnO/Si treatment seems to be very effective in the enhancement of the optoelectronic silicon quality, and the results show that the prepared films have very interesting properties opening applications in solar cells, dielectric and optical fields.