Growth of single-phase Mg0.3Zn0.7O films suitable for solar-blind optical devices on RS-MgO substrates

Single-phase rock-salt Mg0.3Zn0.7O film was fabricated on MgO (100) substrate by radio-frequency plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. A smooth surface was observed by in-situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction and ex-situ atomic force microscopy. X-ray diffraction characterization demonstrated a high-quality single-phase structure with highly (200) orientation and cube-on-cube epitaxial relationship. Zn fraction in the single-phase rock-salt Mg0.3Zn0.7O film was determined by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. Optical property of the film was investigated by reflectance spectroscopy, which indicated a solar-blind band gap of 255.5 nm. The reason why Zn solubility limit is greatly enhanced in non-polar (100) film compared with (111) polar epilayer is tentatively discussed in this work, suggesting MgO (100) is more suitable for the synthesis of single-phase rock-salt MgZnO with high Zn content towards solar-blind opto-device applications.