Study of Optical and Electrical Properties of Nickel Oxide (NiO) Thin Films Deposited by Using a Spray Pyrolysis Technique

Abstract

Nickel oxide (NiO) thin film has been deposited on a glass substrate at a temperature of 390°C ± 10°C using a simple and inexpensive spray pyrolysis technique. Nickel nitrate salt solution (Ni(NO 3 ) 2 · 6H 2 O) was employed to prepare the films and the film thickness was in order of 200 ± 5 nm. The structural, optical and electrical properties of NiO films were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), visible spectrum, DC conductivity and Seebeck effect measurements. The results show that X-ray diffraction techniques have shown that prepared film is polycrystalline structure type cubic phase. The measurements of optical properties (transmittance ( T ) and absorbance ( A )) of NiO films show that higher transmittance is 37.4% within the wavelength range (300 - 900 nm). Also the results have shown that the higher absorbance is 77.7%. The results of electrical properties have shown that at room temperature electrical conductivity is 1.3 × 10 -5 (Ω · cm) -1 , and also results have shown that all the films are of p-type due to the negative Seebeck coefficient.