Structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties of NiO films prepared on Si (100) and glass substrates at different thicknesses

In this work, structural, surface, optical and electrical properties of NiO films were studied at different film thicknesses. The NiO films of different thicknesses in the range 330-920 nm were prepared on Si (100) and glass substrates by using radiofrequency magnetron sputtering of NiO target at 100 degrees C. The structural study through XRD indicated polycrystalline NiO films with preferred orientation along (200) plane. The crystalline quality of the films was improved with increase of the film thickness on both substrates, however, the films prepared on Si (100) displayed better crystallinity as compared to the films prepared on the glass. The morphological features of the film as studied through FE-SEM displayed an increase of grain size with increase of its thickness, however, the grain size of the film on Si (100) was found to be slightly larger than that of the glass. The band gap of NiO film was decreased with increase of the film thickness on both the substrates. The films grown on Si (100) exhibited superior electrical properties as compared to the films prepared on glass at all film thicknesses.