Study of Optical and Electrical Properties of Nickel Oxide (NiO) Thin Films Deposited by Using a Spray Pyrolysis Technique

Nickel oxide (NiO) thin film has been deposited on a glass substrate at a temperature of 390˚C ± 10˚C using a simple and inexpensive spray pyrolysis technique. Nickel nitrate salt solution (Ni(NO3)2∙6H2O) was employed to prepare the films and the film thickness was in order of 200 ± 5 nm. The structural, optical and electrical properties of NiO films were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), visible spectrum, DC conductivity and Seebeck effect measurements. The results show that X-ray diffraction techniques have shown that prepared film is polycrystalline struc-ture type cubic phase. The measurements of optical properties (transmittance (T) and absor-bance (A)) of NiO films show that higher transmittance is 37.4 % within the wavelength range (300- 900 nm). Also the results have shown that the higher absorbance is 77.7%. The results of elec-trical properties have shown that at room temperature electrical conductivity is 1.3 × 10−5 (Ω∙cm)−1, and also results have shown that all the films are of p-type due to the negative Seebeck coefficient.