Mahaveer Kumar Jain

Zn 1-x Cd x O thin films have been prepared by sol-gel spin coating method. Structural analysis shows that the Cd substitution into the wutrzite ZnO lattice is achieved up to about 20 mol %. The optical band gap is found to decrease with the increase in Cd content. Increase in the annealing temperature up to a certain critical temperature leads to band gap narrowing because of the proper substitution of Zn by Cd and thereafter the band gap increases due to Cd re-evaporation from the lattice sites. This critical temperature lowers down with the increase in Cd doping concentration. The resistivity decreases with the increase in Cd content and increases with the increase in annealing temperature.

Highly crystalline copper nitride (Cu3N) thin films have been deposited on glass substrates at room temperature by a novel and commercially viable growth technique, known as modified activated reactive evaporation (MARE). The effects of change in radio frequency (RF) power and deposition pressure on the structural and optical properties of the films have been investigated. RF power plays a significant role for the preferential growth of these films along a particular plane whereas the deposition pressure has comparatively lesser impact on the same. However, the lattice parameter, film thickness and optical band gap are found to be strongly dependent on the deposition pressure. The MARE grown Cu3N films undergo complete decomposition into metallic Cu upon vacuum annealing at 400 °C which makes them promising candidates to be used in write once optical recording media.