Nickel oxide growth on Si (111), c-Al₂O₃ and FTO/glass by pulsed laser deposition

NiO was grown on Si (111), c-Al₂O₃ and FTO/glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) studies revealed that layers grown on c-Al₂O₃ were fcc NiO with a dense morphology of cubic grains that were strongly (111) oriented along the growth direction. The relatively low ω rocking curve linewidth, of 0.12°suggests that there may have been epitaxial growth on the c-Al₂O₃ substrate. XRD and SEM indicated that films grown on Si (111) were also fcc NiO, with cubic grains, but that the grain orientation was random. This is consistent with the presence of an amorphous SiO₂ layer at the surface of the Si substrate, which precluded epitaxial growth. NiO grown at lower temperature (200°C) on temperature-sensitive FTO/glass substrates showed no evidence of crystallinity in XRD and SEM studies. After flash annealing in air, however, peaks characteristic of randomly oriented fcc NiO appeared in the XRD scans and the surface morphology became more granular in appearance. Such layers appear promising for the development of future dye-sensitised solar cell devices based on NiO grown by PLD.