Undoped and transition metals (TM = Cr, Ni, Mn and Cd) doped zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were prepared by sol-gel dip-coating method on glass substrates at 300 °C. In this study, the effect of dopant material on the structural, morphological, optical, electrical and mechanical properties of ZnO thin films is investigated by using XRD, AFM, UV-Vis, Hall effect and nanoindentation techniques, respectively. Nanocrystalline films with a ZnO hexagonal wurtzite structure and two preferred orientations (002) and (103) were obtained. UV-Vis transmittance spectra showed that all the films are highly transparent in the visible region (> 80 %). Moreover, the optical band gap of the films decreased to 3.13 eV with an increasing orbital occupation number of 3d electrons. AFM-topography shows that the films are dense, smooth and uniform, except for the high roughness RMS =26.3 nm obtained for Cd-doped ZnO. Finally, the dopant material is found to have a significant effect on the mechanical behavior of ZnO as compared to the undoped material. For Ni and Cd dopants, analysis of load and unload data yields an increase in the hardness (8.96 ± 0.22 GPa) and Young’s modulus (122 ± 7.46 GPa) of ZnO as compared to Cr and Mn dopants. Therefore, Ni and Cd are the appropriate dopants for the design and application of ZnO-based nanoelectromechanical systems.
