Optical and structural properties of nitrogen incorporated Ni doped diamond-like carbon thin films

Co-depositing of nickel (Ni) and nitrogen (N2) in the diamond-like carbon (DLC) matrix was synthesized by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. In work presented here, N2 was injected as a reactive gas to optimize the optical, and structural properties of Ni:N-DLC thin films, although N2 to argon (Ar) gas ratio was kept constant. Statistical properties of thin films were calculated from the surface topographic images of 2Ni:N-DLC, 3Ni:N-DLC, and 4Ni-N-DLC samples. The characterization of samples has been carried out by by atomic force microscopy (AFM), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy. XRD analysis shows the crystalline nature of deposited thin films. Band gap energies of 2Ni:N-DLC, 3Ni:N-DLC and 4Ni:N-DLC has illustrated that the background N2 gas can be used for the optimization of the electrical properties of Ni-DLC thin films. Optical properties showed that 2Ni:N-DLC and 3Ni:N-DLC can be used for electronic devices.