  Thin films of the prototypical charge transfer insulator NiO appear to be a
promising material for novel nanoelectronic devices. The fabrication of the
material is challenging however, and mostly a p-type semiconducting phase is
reported. Here, the results of a factorial experiment are presented that allow
optimization of the film properties of thin films deposited using sputtering. A
cluster analysis is performed, and four main types of films are found. Among
them, the desired insulating phase is identified. From this material, nanoscale
devices are fabricated, which demonstrate that the results carry over to
relevant length scales. Initial switching results are reported.
