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The thin film of heat-sensitive materials has been widely concerned with the current trend of miniaturization and integration of sensors. In this work, Mn1.56Co0.96Ni0.48O4 (MCNO) thin films were prepared on SiO2/Si substrates by sputtering with Mn–Co–Ni alloy target and then annealing in air at different temperatures (650–900 ℃). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) analysis indicated that the main crystalline phase of MCNO thin films was spinel crystal structure; the surface of the thin films was very dense and uniform. The electrical properties of the thin films were studied in the temperature range of –5–50 ℃. The MCNO thin film with a low room temperature resistance R25 of 71.1 kΩ and a high thermosensitive constant B value of 3305 K was obtained at 750 ℃. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed that the concentration of Mn3+ and Mn4+ cations in MCNO thin films is the highest when annealing temperature is 750 ℃. The complex impedance analysis revealed internal conduction mechanism of the MCNO thin film and the resistance of the thin film was dominated by grain boundary resistance.


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Mn–Co–Ni–O thin films prepared by sputtering with alloy target

Show Author's information Ruifeng LIQiuyun FU( )Xiaohua ZOUZhiping ZHENGWei LUOLiang YAN
Engineering Research Center for Functional Ceramics of Ministry of Education, School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China

Abstract

The thin film of heat-sensitive materials has been widely concerned with the current trend of miniaturization and integration of sensors. In this work, Mn1.56Co0.96Ni0.48O4 (MCNO) thin films were prepared on SiO2/Si substrates by sputtering with Mn–Co–Ni alloy target and then annealing in air at different temperatures (650–900 ℃). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) analysis indicated that the main crystalline phase of MCNO thin films was spinel crystal structure; the surface of the thin films was very dense and uniform. The electrical properties of the thin films were studied in the temperature range of –5–50 ℃. The MCNO thin film with a low room temperature resistance R25 of 71.1 kΩ and a high thermosensitive constant B value of 3305 K was obtained at 750 ℃. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed that the concentration of Mn3+ and Mn4+ cations in MCNO thin films is the highest when annealing temperature is 750 ℃. The complex impedance analysis revealed internal conduction mechanism of the MCNO thin film and the resistance of the thin film was dominated by grain boundary resistance.

Keywords: sputtering, thin film, MCNO, annealing

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Publication history

Received: 20 March 2019
Revised: 20 June 2019
Accepted: 17 August 2019
Published: 05 February 2020
Issue date: February 2020

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© The author(s) 2019

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFB0406405) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61571203).

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