Local structure relaxation in nanocrystalline Ni1 − xO thin films

Non-stoichiometric nickel oxide (Ni1 − xO) thin films were prepared by DC magnetron sputtering technique in mixed Ar/O2 atmosphere and studied by synchrotron radiation Ni K-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The use of advanced modelling technique, combining classical molecular dynamics with ab initio multiple-scattering extended x-ray absorption fine structure calculations, allowed us to describe the structure relaxation and dynamics in nanocrystallites and to estimate their size and the concentration of nickel vacancies.