JFET_V9_N4_RP3 Iqbal Singh Taminder Singh Journal on Future Engineering and Technology 2230 – 7184 9 4 17 23 Anionic Surfactant, Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis Technique, Monoclinic Cuo In this paper an attempt has been made to study the impact of surfactant on the properties of the ultrasonically spray deposited CuO films. An aqueous solution of cupric nitrate trihydrate (Cu(NO₃)₂.3H₂O) modified with Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS) surfactant is used to deposit CuO films on glass substrate by Ultrasonic spray pyrolysis technique. The X'Pert Panlytical Diffractometer was employed for the phase identification of the films using Cu Kα radiation (λ = 1.5405 Å, 30mA, 40 kV) in 2θ range from 30-80°. The Field Emission Scanning Electron Micrographs (FESEM) and EDAX (Energy Dispersive Analysis of X-rays) spectrum were recorded on JEOL JSM-6700F Scanning Electron Microscope with a beam voltage of 30 kV. The depth profiler (Dektek 3030 XT) was employed for monitoring the film thickness and was found to be 400 ± 20 nm. The X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) studies of the films deposited at various substrate temperatures indicate the formation of monoclinic CuO with preferential orientation along the(002) plane for all samples. Surfactant modified films showed an increase in crystallite size of 35 nm at substrate temperature of 300 °C. The Scanning Electron Micrograph (FESEM) confirms the uniform distribution of facets like grains on the entire area of substrate. The results obtained in this study illustrate that SDS modified films show a significant reduction in the particle agglomeration thereby increasing the surface to volume ratio which in turn improves their sensing performance. May - July 2014 Copyright © 2014 i-manager publications. All rights reserved. i-manager Publications http://www.imanagerpublications.com/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2744