Effects of post-annealing temperature on structural, optical, and electrical properties of MgxZn1−xO films by RF magnetron sputtering

MgxZn1−xO thin films were deposited on quartz substrates by RF magnetron sputtering. The effect of post-annealing temperature on structural, optical, and electrical properties was investigated with the annealing temperatures increasing from 450 to 750 °C. The crystallinity of MgxZn1−xO film annealed at 650 °C was significantly improved while the film annealed at 750 °C showed little improvement. The electrical properties degraded with the increase of annealing temperature. The annealing temperature seemed to impact the Eg value of MgxZn1−xO thin films because of the variation of carrier concentration.