Study the Interaction of $\text{CO}_2$ Laser with ZnO Thin Films and Its Effect on Its Topographic and Optical Properties

Abstract

In this work, the effect of the laser on the material was studied through the interaction of carbon dioxide ($\text{CO}_2$) laser radiation with zinc oxide ($\text{ZnO}$) thin films, where laser irradiation is one of the most important industrial applications which have been studied in several researches and are still in continuous development. $\text{ZnO}$ thin films were deposited on glass substrates by chemical spray pyrolysis (CSP) method with concentrations ($0.1$ and $0.2\text{M}$), then exposed to $\text{CO}_2$ laser radiation at ($10.6\ \mu\text{m}$) wavelength and ($1\text{ W}$) power. The topography of these thin films and the optical properties were studied before and after irradiation to show the effect of laser radiation. The irradiation clearly reduced the granular volume of thin films prepared with concentration ($0.1\text{M}$). The results of the optical tests of these thin films showed that they had high transmittance especially in the high wavelength range, and an increase in the value of the energy gap of those irradiated with concentration ($0.1\text{M}$), in addition, the other optical properties which have been studied in this paper included both absorbance, reflectivity, as well refractive, absorption and extinction parameters, and both of real and imaginary dielectric constants.