Growth and Correlation of the Physical and Structural Properties of Hexagonal Nanocrystalline Nickel Oxide Thin Films with Film Thickness
This study investigated nonstoichiometric nickel oxide thin films prepared via the DC-sputtering technique at different film thicknesses. The prepared films were characterized by a surface profiler for thickness measurement, X-ray diffraction (XRD) for film nature, atomic force microscopy (AFM) for...
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2019-09-01
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doaj-afbb233e7bb54947ae2653dd79ecd9572020-11-25T02:13:00ZengMDPI AGCoatings2079-64122019-09-0191061510.3390/coatings9100615coatings9100615Growth and Correlation of the Physical and Structural Properties of Hexagonal Nanocrystalline Nickel Oxide Thin Films with Film ThicknessAhmed H. Hammad0Mohamed Sh. Abdel-wahab1Sajith Vattamkandathil2Akhalakur Rahman Ansari3Center of Nanotechnology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi ArabiaCenter of Nanotechnology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi ArabiaCenter of Nanotechnology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi ArabiaCenter of Nanotechnology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi ArabiaThis study investigated nonstoichiometric nickel oxide thin films prepared via the DC-sputtering technique at different film thicknesses. The prepared films were characterized by a surface profiler for thickness measurement, X-ray diffraction (XRD) for film nature, atomic force microscopy (AFM) for film morphology and roughness, UV-visible-near infrared (UV-vis.-NIR) spectroscopy for optical transmittance spectra of the films, and the photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the prepared films were obtained. The measured film thickness increased from 150 to 503 nm as the deposition time increased. XRD detected the trigonal crystal system of NiO<sub>0.96</sub>. The crystallite sizes were mainly grown through (101) and (110) characteristic planes. NiO<sub>0.96</sub> films have a spherical particle shape and their sizes decreases as the film thickness increased. The optical band gap values decrease from 3.817 to 3.663 eV when the film thickness increases. The refractive index was estimated from the Moss relation, while the high-frequency dielectric constant and the static dielectric constant were deduced from the empirical Adachi formula. The photoluminescence behavior of the studied films confirmed the photogeneration of an electron-hole in nickel and oxygen vacancies. Hence, this study confirms the presence of nickel oxide lattice in the hexagonal structure containing the defects originated from the nickel vacancies or the excess of oxygen.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6412/9/10/615sputtered nickel oxidex-ray diffractionmorphologyoptical band gaprefractive indexdielectric constant |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Ahmed H. Hammad Mohamed Sh. Abdel-wahab Sajith Vattamkandathil Akhalakur Rahman Ansari |
spellingShingle |
Ahmed H. Hammad Mohamed Sh. Abdel-wahab Sajith Vattamkandathil Akhalakur Rahman Ansari Growth and Correlation of the Physical and Structural Properties of Hexagonal Nanocrystalline Nickel Oxide Thin Films with Film Thickness Coatings sputtered nickel oxide x-ray diffraction morphology optical band gap refractive index dielectric constant |
author_facet |
Ahmed H. Hammad Mohamed Sh. Abdel-wahab Sajith Vattamkandathil Akhalakur Rahman Ansari |
author_sort |
Ahmed H. Hammad |
title |
Growth and Correlation of the Physical and Structural Properties of Hexagonal Nanocrystalline Nickel Oxide Thin Films with Film Thickness |
title_short |
Growth and Correlation of the Physical and Structural Properties of Hexagonal Nanocrystalline Nickel Oxide Thin Films with Film Thickness |
title_full |
Growth and Correlation of the Physical and Structural Properties of Hexagonal Nanocrystalline Nickel Oxide Thin Films with Film Thickness |
title_fullStr |
Growth and Correlation of the Physical and Structural Properties of Hexagonal Nanocrystalline Nickel Oxide Thin Films with Film Thickness |
title_full_unstemmed |
Growth and Correlation of the Physical and Structural Properties of Hexagonal Nanocrystalline Nickel Oxide Thin Films with Film Thickness |
title_sort |
growth and correlation of the physical and structural properties of hexagonal nanocrystalline nickel oxide thin films with film thickness |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Coatings |
issn |
2079-6412 |
publishDate |
2019-09-01 |
description |
This study investigated nonstoichiometric nickel oxide thin films prepared via the DC-sputtering technique at different film thicknesses. The prepared films were characterized by a surface profiler for thickness measurement, X-ray diffraction (XRD) for film nature, atomic force microscopy (AFM) for film morphology and roughness, UV-visible-near infrared (UV-vis.-NIR) spectroscopy for optical transmittance spectra of the films, and the photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the prepared films were obtained. The measured film thickness increased from 150 to 503 nm as the deposition time increased. XRD detected the trigonal crystal system of NiO<sub>0.96</sub>. The crystallite sizes were mainly grown through (101) and (110) characteristic planes. NiO<sub>0.96</sub> films have a spherical particle shape and their sizes decreases as the film thickness increased. The optical band gap values decrease from 3.817 to 3.663 eV when the film thickness increases. The refractive index was estimated from the Moss relation, while the high-frequency dielectric constant and the static dielectric constant were deduced from the empirical Adachi formula. The photoluminescence behavior of the studied films confirmed the photogeneration of an electron-hole in nickel and oxygen vacancies. Hence, this study confirms the presence of nickel oxide lattice in the hexagonal structure containing the defects originated from the nickel vacancies or the excess of oxygen. |
topic |
sputtered nickel oxide x-ray diffraction morphology optical band gap refractive index dielectric constant |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6412/9/10/615 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT ahmedhhammad growthandcorrelationofthephysicalandstructuralpropertiesofhexagonalnanocrystallinenickeloxidethinfilmswithfilmthickness AT mohamedshabdelwahab growthandcorrelationofthephysicalandstructuralpropertiesofhexagonalnanocrystallinenickeloxidethinfilmswithfilmthickness AT sajithvattamkandathil growthandcorrelationofthephysicalandstructuralpropertiesofhexagonalnanocrystallinenickeloxidethinfilmswithfilmthickness AT akhalakurrahmanansari growthandcorrelationofthephysicalandstructuralpropertiesofhexagonalnanocrystallinenickeloxidethinfilmswithfilmthickness |
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1724906914506080256 |