Plasma-Assisted Combustion Synthesis Of P-Type Transparent Cu Incorporated Nio Thin Films-Correlation Between Deposition Chemistry And Charge Transport Characteristics

Optically transparent and conducting Cu-incorporated NiO thin films are deposited by low-temperature plasma-assisted solution combustion synthesis. The hole conductivity, crystallographic nature, and the film morphology in this semiconductor highly depend upon the amount of Cu incorporation in the material, which is found to have a strong influence on the defect density in these films, ultimately leading to a larger variation in their optoelectronic properties. The change in conductivity with Cu incorporation follows the generalized effective medium theory model with a fitted percolation threshold near zero. Under optimal composition of the Cu to Ni ratio in the as-deposited thin film, the p-type electrical resistivity of 0.85 Omega cm is obtained with a hole concentration of 3.9x10(18)cm(-3) and hole mobility of 1.9cm(2)V(-1)s(-1), with an average visible transmittance of 76%. Hole transport over a wide range of temperatures and Cu incorporation can be successfully modeled by Mott variable range hopping.