Recently

diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) have attracted a lot of attention because of their potential technological applications in optoelectronic

magnetoelectronic

and microwave devices. Ⅱ-Ⅵ semiconductors such as ZnO are attractive as DMS candidates because the solubility limit of magnetic ions is extremely high. Cobalt is the magnetic impurity most soluble in ZnO. Therefore

numerous experimental groups have tried to grow ZnO semiconductors doped with ferromagnetic transition metals. But there is few report of electrodeposition applied to grow Co doped ZnO semiconductors. That is due to the ferromagnetic transition metal ions are difficult to dope into the ZnO crystal lattice successfully. In this paper

the Co doped ZnO thin films were prepared by electrdeposition with adding hexamethylenetetramine. The optical properties of the Co-doped ZnOare also studied.