Enhancement of the refractive index of sputtered zinc oxide thin films through doping with Fe₂O₃

Certain optical applications, such as antireflective coatings on solar cells, require transparent films with high refractive indices (>2). Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a transparent semiconductor with exceptional optical properties. However, its refractive index in the transparent dispersionless region of the visible spectrum is lower than 2. In this study, we enhanced the refractive index of sputtered ZnO thin films through doping with iron oxide (Fe₂O₃), where ZnO targets were doped by 0.5–2.0 wt% of Fe₂O₃. The films were polycrystalline with smooth surfaces. Differential transmittance spectra were employed to derive the optical band gaps of the films, which showed a minor variation by ±0.03 eV due to doping. The refractive index was extracted from the transmittance spectra using a Cauchy equation and was further fitted by a single-oscillator model. The optimum refractive index was obtained for the films prepared from the target doped with 1.5 wt% of Fe₂O₃. Enhancement of the refractive index was accompanied by a reduction of optical absorption in the doped films.