Fabrication and characterization of NiO films for energetic nano-multilayers by direct current reactive sputtering

NiO films were fabricated by reactive direct current magnetron sputtering on glass and alumina substrates for the application in energetic nano-multilayers. The structural and thermal properties of the films were investigated with the volume ratio of oxygen to argon ranging from 1:9 to 3:2, and the optimized ratio value is obtained as 1:3, which was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy and ultrafast measurement system. The effect of the film thickness, varying from 150 to 900 nm, on the structural properties was characterized by XRD and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD analysis reveals that the (111) lattice plane is the preferred orientation. The intensities of preferential peaks and the grain sizes increase as the film thicknesses increase.