Synthesis and characterization of sol-gel screen printed Gd:ZnO (GZO) film towards opto-electronic applications

In this study, Gd$_{0.02}$Zn$_{0.98}$O (GZO) film was coated onto ordinary glass substrate by unusual sol-gel screen- printing procedure. Gadolinium was successfully integrated into ZnO lattice as confirmed by XRD study. The developed film was polycrystalline in nature and displayed hexagonal (wurtzite) structure with favored orientation in [101] direction. SEM picture exposed the formation of fibrous structure on the whole glass substrate. The direct nature of band gap with a value of 3.35 eV was determined by UV-Visible spectrum in reflectance mode. A strong emission peak near the band edge along with weak green emission were exposed by PL spectra. The electrical features of the film were scrutinized by Hall measurement and it was observed that the film showed $n$-type conductivity with low resistivity value of about 1.07 $\cdot$ 10$^{-3}$ Ohm $\cdot$ cm.