Effect of annealing temperature on properties of MgxZn1−xO thin films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering

MgxZn1−xO films (x=0.16) have been prepared on silicon and sapphire substrates by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. The effects of annealing temperature on the structure, morphology and optical properties of MgxZn1−xO films are studied using XRD, AFM, photoluminescence and the transmittance spectra. The results indicate that the thin films have hexagonal wurtzite single-phase structure of ZnO, a preferred orientation with the c-axis perpendicular to the substrates, and with increasing annealing temperature the intensities of the (0 0 2) peaks for the XRD, grain sizes and intensities of the UV photoluminescence peaks increase while the FWHM of (002) peaks decrease, which demonstrate that the high quality of MgxZn1−xO films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering can be obtained by controlling annealing temperature.