Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited on quartz, silicon, and polymer substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD)
technique at different oxygen partial pressures (0.007 mbar to 0.003 mbar). Polycrystalline ZnO films were obtained at
room temperature when the oxygen pressure was between 0.003 mbar and .007 mbar, above and below this pressure the
films were amorphous as indicated by the X-ray diffraction (XRD). ZnO films were deposited on Al2O3 (0001) at
different substrate temperatures varying from 400oC to 600oC and full width half maximum (FWHM) of XRD peak is
observed to decrease as substrate temperature increases. The optical band gaps of these films were nearly 3.3 eV. A
cylindrical Langmuir probe is used for the investigation of plasma plume arising from the ZnO target. The spatial and
temporal variations in electron density and electron temperature are studied. Optical emission spectroscopy is used to
identify the different ionic species in the plume. Strong emission lines of neutral Zn, Zn+ and neutral oxygen are
observed. No electronically excited O+ cations are identified, which is in agreement with previous studies of ZnO plasma
plume.
Transparent diode heterojunction on ITO coated glass substrates was fabricated using p-type AgCoO2 and n-type ZnO films by pulsed laser
deposition (PLD). The PLD of AgCoO2 thin films was carried out using the pelletized sintered target of AgCoO2 powder, which was synthesized
in-house by the hydrothermal process. The band gap of these thin films was found to be ~3.89 eV and they had transmission of~55% in the
visible spectral region. Although Hall measurements could only indicate mixed carrier type conduction but thermoelectric power measurements of
Seebeck coefficient confirmed the p-type conductivity of the grown AgCoO2 films. The PLD grown ZnO films showed a band gap of ~3.28 eV,
an average optical transmission of ~85% and n-type carrier density of~4.6×1019 cm− 3. The junction between p-AgCoO2 and n-ZnO was found
to be rectifying. The ratio of forward current to the reverse current was about 7 at 1.5 V. The diode ideality factor was much greater than 2.