Argon and oxygen pressure influence on the properties of NiO films deposited by magnetron sputtering in layer-by-layer growth regime

The influence of argon and oxygen partial pressure on the structure, morphology, and optical properties of NiO films deposited on glass substrate by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering in layer-by-layer growth regime are presented. The argon and oxygen partial pressures were varied in the range of 0.4–4 Pa. XRD measurements reveal the formation of NiO films without preferred orientation of crystallites. The average transmittance of the deposited NiO films was found to be in the range 33–73 % while the optical band gap, calculated from absorption spectra, varied from 2.9 to 3.3 eV. AFM measurements revealed that the grain size and surface roughness changed in the range of 24–55 nm and 1.4–4.3 nm, respectively. The electrical resistivity of NiO films varied from 2.4 to 880 Ohm·cm. The NiO films deposited by layer-by-layer growth regime in magnetron sputtering demonstrate a suitable structure and good optical properties for various applications.