Structural and electrical characteristics of nanocrystalline copper nickel oxide films formed by RF magnetron sputtering

Copper-nickel-oxide (CuNiO2) thin films have been deposited on glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering of an equimolar copper nickel alloy target (Cu50Ni50) at a fixed oxygen partial pressure of 2x10 -2 Pa and at different substrate bias voltages in the range from 0 to -90 V. The X-ray diffraction studies revealed that single phase nanocrystalline CuNiO2 thin films were achieved at substrate bias voltage ≥ -30 V. The crystallite size of the films increased from 2.2 to 2.5 nm with increase of substrate bias voltage from 0 to -60 V. The grain size of the films increased from 80 to 95 nm with increase of substrate bias voltage from 0 to -60 V. The films formed at substrate bias voltage of -60 V exhibited low electrical resistivity of 1.5 Ωcm, Hall mobility 19 cm 2 V -1 sec -1 and hole concentration of 2x10 17 cm -3 .