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Carbon films embedded by nickel nanoparticles: fluctuation in hopping rate and variable-range hopping with respect to annealing temperature

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Abstract

In this work, the electrical properties of carbon–nickel films annealed at different temperatures (573, 773, 1073 and 1273 K) in the temperature range 15–300 K were investigated. The films were grown by radio frequency magnetron co-sputtering on quartz substrates at room temperature. The multiphonon hopping conduction mechanism is found to dominate the electrical transport in the temperature range 150–300 K. It can be seen that the room-temperature hopping rate (ΓRT) at 773 K has maximum value of 56.8 × 105 s−1. Our results of conductivity measurements at high temperature are in good agreement with strong carrier–lattice coupling model; on the other hand, the conductivity in the range 15–50 K is well described in terms of variable-range hopping (VRH) conduction mechanism. The localized state density around Fermi level N(E F) and the average hopping energy W hop at low temperature for the films annealed at 773 K have maximum value of 2.23 × 1023 (cm−3 eV−1) and minimum value of 9.74 × 10−4 eV, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Malayer University, Malayer, Iran

    Vali Dalouji

  2. Plasma Physics Research Center, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

    Smohammad Elahi

  3. Young Researchers and Elite Club, Kermanshah Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah, Iran

    Shahram Solaymani & Atefeh Ghaderi

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Arak University of Technology, Arak, Iran

    Hossein Elahi

Authors
  1. Vali Dalouji
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  2. Smohammad Elahi
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  3. Shahram Solaymani
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  4. Atefeh Ghaderi
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  5. Hossein Elahi
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Correspondence to Vali Dalouji.

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Dalouji, V., Elahi, S., Solaymani, S. et al. Carbon films embedded by nickel nanoparticles: fluctuation in hopping rate and variable-range hopping with respect to annealing temperature. Appl. Phys. A 122, 541 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-016-0074-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-016-0074-z

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