Metal organic deposition of LaNiO3 conductive films through a novel wet oxygen annealing process

LaNiO
3
films were prepared through the metal organic deposition method using La(NO
3
)·4H
2
O and Ni(CH
3
COO)
2
·4H
2
O as starting materials, acetylacetone as a complexing agent, and 2-methoxyethanol as a solvent. The effect of the annealing atmosphere and ion stoichiometry on the film conductivity was examined. The results showed that the LaNiO
3
phase was formed by the reaction between NiO, La
2
NiO
3
and O
2
. Thus, the film annealed under oxidization atmosphere had a higher conductivity than those annealed under nitrogen or air. Especially, annealed under wet O
2
, the LaNiO
3
film had the highest conductivity, and the resistivity as low as (2∼5)×10
⁻⁴
Ω·cm. The film density could be improved by increasing the film thickness, resulting the decreasing of the film resistivity.