Influence of Growth Temperature on the Properties of DC Reactive Magnetron Sputtered NiO Thin Films

Abstract

Nickel oxide (NiO) films were deposited on Corning 7059 glass substrates using DC reactive magnetron sputtering at different substrate temperatures in the range 30°C to 400°C. The effect of substrate temperature (Ts) on the structure, chemical binding configuration, surface morphology, composition, optical and electrical properties of NiO films was investigated. X-ray diffraction studies indicated that as Ts increased above 200°C the preferred orientation (220) intensity was increased and had a stable cubic structure. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies revealed the grown films have single phase of NiO. From the morphological studies, it was observed that the grain size and root mean square roughness was increased with Ts. It is suggested that the growth temperature affects the properties of NiO film. Higher substrate temperature induces larger grain size and more perfect crystalline structure, which lead to low resistivity.