Study of physical properties of chemical bath deposited nickel oxide thin films

Abstract Being the p-type metal oxide semiconductor, nickel oxide (NiO) has gained lots of interest due to its interesting properties towards various applications. Here, the emphasis has been studying the force of attraction between the contact points of deposited thin film and its substrate using adhesion measurements. Initially the chemical bath deposited nickel (Ni) films on glass substrates were synthesized and further oxidized in air at 300 °C for 2 h to get the NiO thin films. The structural and morphological studies of Ni and NiO films were undertaken using XRD and SEM respectively. The crystal structure of NiO was confirmed with (1 1 1), (2 0 0), (2 2 0) peaks. The flakes like surface morphology was observed. The oxidized thin films showed higher adhesion than the metal thin films. The effect of deposition time on adhesion was also studied.