High-temperature growth and in-situ annealing of MgZnO thin films by RF sputtering

We report the effect of growth temperature and annealing on microstructural, elemental and emission properties of as-grown and in-situ annealed MgZnO thin films, containing ∼ 10 at. % Mg, grown at high temperature by RF sputtering. Microstructural analysis carried out by TEM reveals formation of thin oxide layer with increased layer thickness on growth temperature, in the interface between Si substrate and MgZnO thin film. Irrespective of growth temperature, increase in Mg mole fraction with increase in thickness of MgZnO thin film is observed from EDX and AES spectroscopy, and a maximum of 14 at. % Mg is observed at 800 °C. The photoluminescence investigation shows blue shift of 104 meV in MgZnO film grown at 800 °C, compared to the film grown at 600 °C, which is due to the enhancement of the Mg incorporation at higher temperature. In addition, annealing at the growth temperature enhanced the intensity ratio of the UV/deep level emission and increased the grain size. Thermal treatment in a vacuum improved the emission efficiency and changed the origin of the point defects.