Spin-coated ZnO thin films: deposition parameters and crystallinity

I supported a graduate student''s study of sol-gel ZnO films on glass substrates, preparing precursor solutions, running the spin coater across a matrix of speeds and annealing temperatures, and collecting the resulting XRD and UV-Vis data.

My contribution was the deposition matrix and the data workup rather than the study design. I learned substrate cleaning discipline the hard way: my first fortnight of films were unusable because of incomplete degreasing.