Effects of growth temperature on the photovoltaic properties of RF sputtered undoped NiO thin films

In this study, nickel oxide (NiO) thin films were deposited on soda lime glass using radio-frequency magnetron sputtering at different growth (substrate) temperatures ranging from room temperature (RT) to 400 °C. The effects of substrate temperature on the structural, morphological, electrical, and optical properties were investigated. The XRD pattern unveiled a dominant peak with (2 0 0) preferential orientations for the film grown at 100 °C. However, for samples grown at high temperatures, a gradual decrease of (2 0 0) peak intensity was observed, which may be the result of the decomposition of NiO as confirmed via EDX. Surface morphology from FESEM revealed that grains were randomly orientated on the surface with maximum grain size of 19.43 nm. Upon increasing…