The surface morphology and structure of zinc oxide thin films play a key role in many applications such as chemical sensors and photocatalysts. In this study, ZnO thin films are prepared on Si/SiO₂ substrates by spin-coating sol–gel technique. New element in the films preparation is the application of drying with hot air flow (T_h= 90–95 °C), as first step of the drying procedure, followed by furnace drying as second step. It is shown that hot air drying has significant influence on the films properties. It reduces the internal stress, strongly affects the films surface morphology, gives assistance to the effusion of organic remains and results in a better crystallinity and lower defect density in the as-prepared films when compared with the films prepared by furnace drying only. Besides, first data on the modification of sol–gel ZnO films by post-deposition irradiation with a nanosecond infrared laser are obtained, giving an alternative to the standard furnace annealing. They indicate that laser irradiation of as-prepared ZnO films gives rise to certain improvement in crystal structure and slight increase in crystallite size, followed by the increase of micro-strain. It also reduces the number of defects playing role of non-radiative recombination centers, as well as the size and density of small cracks and pores on the surface of as-prepared films.

氧化锌薄膜的表面形态和结构在化学传感器和光催化剂等许多应用中起着关键作用。在这项研究中，ZnO 薄膜是通过旋涂溶胶-凝胶技术在 Si/SiO ₂衬底上制备的。薄膜制备中的新元素是热气流干燥的应用（T _h= 90–95 °C)，作为干燥程序的第一步，然后是炉子干燥作为第二步。结果表明，热风干燥对薄膜性能有显着影响。与仅通过炉干燥制备的薄膜相比，它降低了内应力，强烈影响薄膜表面形貌，有助于有机残留物的渗出，并导致所制备薄膜的结晶度更好，缺陷密度更低。此外，获得了通过纳秒红外激光进行沉积后辐照对溶胶-凝胶 ZnO 薄膜进行改性的第一个数据，为标准炉退火提供了一种替代方法。他们表明，激光照射所制备的 ZnO 薄膜会引起晶体结构的一定改善和微晶尺寸的轻微增加，随后是微应变的增加。