Local structure relaxation in nanocrystalline Ni_{1 - X}O thin films

Non-stoichiometric nickel oxide (Ni_{1 - x}O) 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.