TY - JOUR
T1 - Tailoring Nickel Oxide Thin Films: Comparative Study of Oxidizing Agents in Thermal and Plasma-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition
AU - Hidrogo-Rico, Mario Alberto
AU - Nedev, Nicola
AU - Horley, Paul
AU - Mendívil, María Isabel
AU - Castillo-Saenz, Jhonathan
AU - Martínez-Guerra, Edgar
AU - Juarez-Perez, Emilio J.
AU - Aguirre-Tostado, Francisco Servando
AU - Susarrey-Arce, Arturo
AU - Martínez-Guerra, Eduardo
PY - 2024/12/30
Y1 - 2024/12/30
N2 - Thermal atomic layer deposition (TALD) and plasma atomic layer deposition (PALD) were used for producing thin NiOx films from nickel(II) acetylacetonate Ni(acac)2, employing different oxidizing agents (deionized water H2O, ozone O3, and molecular oxygen O2). The films were deposited at 300 °C (TALD) and 220 °C (PALD) over glass substrates; their physical and chemical properties were considerably influenced by the choice of oxidizing agents. In particular, ALD(H2O) samples had a low growth per cycle (GPC) and a high concentration of defects. The best NiOx parameters were achieved with PALD(O2), featuring high GPC (0.07 nm/cycle), high optical transparency in the visible region, electrical resistivity (1.18 × 104 Ω·cm), good carrier concentration (8.82 × 1013 cm–3), and common mobility (5.98 cm2/V·s). The resulting NiOx films are polycrystalline and homogeneous in thickness and composition. According to ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), work function φ and the valence band maximum EV can be tuned by the choice of the coreactant employed, with variations of up to ∼1 eV between TALD and PALD synthesis. Our results suggest that PALD permits one to achieve a better energy band alignment of NiOx and CsFAMAPbBrI perovskite, which is promising for solar cell applications.
AB - Thermal atomic layer deposition (TALD) and plasma atomic layer deposition (PALD) were used for producing thin NiOx films from nickel(II) acetylacetonate Ni(acac)2, employing different oxidizing agents (deionized water H2O, ozone O3, and molecular oxygen O2). The films were deposited at 300 °C (TALD) and 220 °C (PALD) over glass substrates; their physical and chemical properties were considerably influenced by the choice of oxidizing agents. In particular, ALD(H2O) samples had a low growth per cycle (GPC) and a high concentration of defects. The best NiOx parameters were achieved with PALD(O2), featuring high GPC (0.07 nm/cycle), high optical transparency in the visible region, electrical resistivity (1.18 × 104 Ω·cm), good carrier concentration (8.82 × 1013 cm–3), and common mobility (5.98 cm2/V·s). The resulting NiOx films are polycrystalline and homogeneous in thickness and composition. According to ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), work function φ and the valence band maximum EV can be tuned by the choice of the coreactant employed, with variations of up to ∼1 eV between TALD and PALD synthesis. Our results suggest that PALD permits one to achieve a better energy band alignment of NiOx and CsFAMAPbBrI perovskite, which is promising for solar cell applications.
U2 - 10.1021/acsomega.4c06606
DO - 10.1021/acsomega.4c06606
M3 - Article
SN - 2470-1343
JO - ACS Omega
JF - ACS Omega
ER -