Characterization of NiO Films with the Process Variables in the RF-Sputtering

NiO thin films were deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering on glass substrates. The processing variables of the oxygen content, sputtering power, and pressure were varied to investigate the electrical properties and surface morphology of NiO films. It was found that the resistivity of NiO films at $1.22{\times}10^2{\Omega}cm$ (2.5% $O_2$ in Ar gas) was greatly reduced to$ 2.01{\times}10^{-1}$ ${\Omega}cm$ (100% oxygen) under a typical sputtering condition of 6 mTorr and 200 watts. In an effort to observe the resistivity variances, the sputtering power was varied from 80 to 200 watts at 6 mTorr with 100% $O_2$. However, the resistivity of the NiO films changed in the range of $10^{-1}-10^{-2}$ ${\Omega}cm$. The dependence on the sputtering power was therefore found to be weak in this experiment. When the sputtering pressure was changed from 3 to 60 mTorr at 200 watts with 100% $O_2$, the resistivity of the NiO films showed the lowest value of $5.8{\times}10^{-3}$ ${\Omega}cm$ at 3 mTorr, which is close to that of commercial ITO films (${\sim}10^{-4}$ ${\Omega}cm$). As the sputtering pressure increased, the resistivity also increased to 4.67 cm at 60 mTorr. The surface morphology of the NiO films was also checked by Atomic Force Microscopy. It was found that the RMS surface roughness values ranged from 0.6 to 1.5 nm and thtthe dependence on the sputtering parameters was weak.

스퍼터링 공정변수 변화에 따른 NiO 박막의 특성 평가