Metal Organic Chemical Vapour Deposited Thin Films of Cobalt Oxide Prepared via Cobalt Acetylacetonate

The single solid source precursor, cobalt (II) acetylacetonate was prepared and characterized by infrared spectroscopy. Thin films of cobalt oxide were deposited on soda lime glass substrates through the pyrolysis (metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD)) of single solid source precursor, cobalt acetylacetonate, Co[C5H7O2]2 at a temperature of 420 ◦C. The compositional characterization carried out by rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD), showed that the films have a stoichiometry of Co2O3 and an average thickness of 227±0.2 nm. A direct energy gap of 2.15±0.01 eV was calculated by the data obtained by optical absorption spectroscopy. The morphology of the films obtained by scanning electron microscopy, showed that the grains were continuous and uniformly distributed at various magnifications, while the average grain size was less than 1 micron for the deposited thin films of cobalt oxide.