Sputtering Power Induced Physical Property Variation of Nickel Oxide Films by Radio Frequency Magnetron Sputtering

NiO thin films were deposited on Si and Corning 1737 glass substrates using radio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering system. The physical properties of NiO films under different sputtering power were thoroughly studied. The XRD results indicated that as-prepared NiO films with the sputtering power above 100 W developed only (200) preferred orientation. The AFM results showed that the NiO films were composed of different-size NiO nano-grains and the grain size increased with increasing the sputtering power. The samples marked A-E under the sputtering power of 80, 100, 120, 140 and 160 W have optical band gap values of 3.70, 3.65, 3.50, 3.45 and 3.44 eV, respectively. Comparatively, the controllable electrical properties of the films could be achieved by the variation of crystal quality arises from the sputtering power.本研究采用射频（rf）磁控溅射系统，在硅片及康宁1737玻璃基板上制备了氧化镍（NiO）薄膜，并针对不同溅射功率下该薄膜的物理性能开展了系统性探究。X射线衍射（XRD）测试结果表明，当溅射功率高于100 W时，所制备的氧化镍薄膜仅呈现(200)晶面择优取向。原子力显微镜（AFM）表征结果显示，该氧化镍薄膜由尺寸不均的氧化镍纳米晶粒构成，且晶粒尺寸随溅射功率的升高而增大。编号为A至E的样品分别对应80、100、120、140及160 W的溅射功率，其光学带隙值依次为3.70、3.65、3.50、3.45与3.44 eV。相较而言，通过调控溅射功率引发的晶体质量变化，可实现该薄膜电学性能的可控调节。