Electrical and Optical Characterization of CuCrO2 Thin Films Deposited Using Cu and Cr2O3 Targets

Single-phase delafossite CuCrO2 thin films were successfully synthesized for the first time using a dual sputtering method involving Cu and Cr2O3 targets. The films were deposited on quartz substrates at 400 °C, with the copper target power varied between 5 W and 20 W, while the chromium oxide target power was fixed at 200 W. Post-deposition annealing was conducted in a nitrogen atmosphere at 650 °C for 5 hours. XRD and XPS analysis confirmed the formation of single-phase CuCrO2 films at a copper sputtering power of 10 W. SEM analysis showed an increasing trend in grain size with an increase in copper sputtering power. The optical studies showed a transmission rate of 57.36% along with a bandgap of 3.19 eV. The four-point probe measurement indicated the lowest resistivity of 18.6 Ω cm.