The Study of the Effect of Gamma Rays and Neutrons on the Physical Properties of Zinc Oxide Thin Film

In this paper, Zinc Oxide (ZnO) thin films were prepared by Chemical Vapor Deposition technique (CVD), at a normal atmospheric pressure on a glass substrate at temperature 400oC. The structural, optical and electrical properties of the films were studied before and after gamma-ray irradiation, with different radiation doses (0, 0.5, 1, 2) Gy. Also, other samples were exposed to neutrons beam for exposure periods (2,4, 8, 10) hours. The transmittance spectrum was measured as a function of wavelength in the range (320-1000) nm. The highest transmittance of the prepared films was 85%, thus decreased after gamma-ray irradiation to 63.4% at dose 0.5Gy and wavelength 1000 nm, but when irradiated by neutrons beam has decreased to 46.79% at time of radiation 4h and wavelength 990 nm. The energy gap of the prepared films was (3.25) eV where those radiated, were (2.51, 2.6, 2.5) eV for given gamma-ray dose and (1.92, 2.3,1.5,1.7) eV for neutron beam, for given exposure time respectively. The expected Change due to the change in the nature of material after radiation. The measured electrical resistivity of irradiated films was found to be (8.79-12.56) X 103 .cm where it was 0.236 X 10-3 .cm before the irradiation.