A. Mallikarjuna Reddy

Structural and morphological properties of sputtered NiO thin films at various sputtering pressures

Nickel oxide thin films were successfully deposited on glass substrates at different sputtering pressures in the range of 3 × 10−2 to 5 × 10−2 mbar. It was observed that sputtering pressure influenced the structural and morphological properties. Structural properties were studied with X-ray diffractometer. All the deposited films were polycrystalline and exhibited cubic structure with preferential growth along (220) plane. From morphological studies it was observed that fine and uniform grains with RMS roughness of 9.4 nm were obtained when the films deposited at a sputtering pressure of 4 × 10−2 mbar,. The grain size and the surface roughness decreased at higher sputtering pressures. The surface mobility of the adatoms decreased after series of collisions resulting in the decrease of grain size at high sputtering pressures.

Structural and electrical properties of pure and Cu doped NiO films deposited at various oxygen partial pressures

Pure and Cu doped NiO thin films were successfully deposited by dc reactive magnetron sputtering technique at various oxygen partial pressures in the range 9 × 10−5 to 6 × 10−4 mbar. It was observed that oxygen partial pressure influence the structural and electrical properties. All the deposited films were polycrystalline and exhibited cubic structure with preferential growth along (220) plane for NiO films and (111) and (220) planes for Cu doped NiO films. All the deposited films exhibited p-type conductivity. The electrical resistivity decreased from 62.24 to 9.94 Ω cm and the mobility and carrier concentration were increased with oxygen partial pressure.

Oxygen Partial Pressure Dependent Properties of Nanocrystalline Nickel Oxide Films

Nickel oxide thin films have been successfully deposited by dc reactive magnetron sputtering technique on glass substrates at different oxygen partial pressures. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the preferred orientation changed from (200) to (220) with increasing oxygen partial pressure. Fine grains with RMS roughness of 9.4 nm were observed at an oxygen partial pressure of 6 × 10−4 mbar.

Influence of substrate bias voltage on the properties of sputtered nickel oxide thin films

Nickel oxide (NiO) thin films were deposited on glass substrates at various substrate bias voltages by dc reactive magnetron sputtering technique. The effect of substrate bias voltage on the structural, morphological and compositional properties was systematically investigated by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) respectively. From XRD studies it was observed that all the deposited films were polycrystalline with preferential growth along (200) reflection. The RMS roughness of the films was increased as substrate bias voltage increased. Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy studies revealed that all the deposited films consists of nickel and oxygen.

Structural, Morphological and Optical properties of Sputtered Nickel oxide Thin Films

Nickel oxide (NiO) thin films have been deposited by dc reactive magnetron sputtering technique on glass substrates at various substrate temperatures in the range of 303 to 723 K. The influence of substrate temperature on structural, morphological, compositional and optical properties was analyzed by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and spectrophotometer studies. The structural properties of the films were strongly influenced by the substrate temperature. From the microstructural studies, fine and uniform grains were grown with RMS roughness of 9.4 nm at substrate temperature of 523 K. The optical results indicated that the optical transmittance of the films increases with increasing substrate temperature up to 523 K, thereafter decreases. The optical band of the films increases with substrate temperature initially, thereafter decreased at higher temperatures. The Highest optical transmittance of 60 % and optic...